Why visiting scholars?

One of the strategic aims identified in the plan for the university is to foster interactions among scientists at all levels. Over the past few years we have introduced a number of vehicles to encourage greater intellectual exchange. These include the Monday Lecture Series, now entering its third year, the Insight Lecture Series and new investments in our core resource centers.

Another initiative will be launched this month with the arrival of two visiting scholars who will spend several weeks on campus meeting with faculty, giving talks and engaging with students and postdocs. The idea here is to attract interesting visitors who work in a range of areas including those that may not be directly related to Rockefeller’s mission but are nonetheless stimulating. This could include people working in the history and philosophy of science or medicine, or in art or literature related to science. We could invite a science writer or even an artist or poet to visit. Whatever their specialty, these individuals will be chosen because they have distinguished themselves in their careers and are prepared to take on a university-wide role, meeting with scientists from different specialties to discuss research and common interests.

The two individuals we have chosen to launch the program are Philip Campbell and Peter Goodfellow. They are very creative people who are leaders in their fields, and they are both enthusiastic about the opportunity to interact with the Rockefeller community.

We have scheduled several events for Peter and Philip, including separate Insight Lectures, a large-scale panel discussion and smaller, more intimate seminars with students, postdocs and faculty. We have solicited input from the campus about how best to make use of the visiting scholars, and much of their schedules has been driven by suggestions from throughout the community. Because their visits will overlap by one week there is the opportunity not only for us to engage with them individually, but also for the visitors to interact with one another. I’m hopeful that productive exchanges, as well as perhaps new ideas and fresh perspectives, might emerge when we put Peter and Philip together with the scientific members of our community.

At this stage, the Visiting Scholars Program remains very much an experiment. After the visits have concluded, we will review the program and assess it. Eventually, I hope to set it up on a more formal basis in order to take advantage of ideas and opinions from the community with respect to both the selection of visitors and the operation of the program.

Meanwhile, I encourage you to make use of the visitors while they are here. Their contact details are to be found in the Announcements section of this publication. I know that both Peter and Philip will be glad of approaches from any member of the campus community.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please direct them to Jane Rendall at rendalj@rockefeller.edu.