2026 Early Modern Summer Program at the Center for Canon Expansion and Change
University of Minnesota Twin Cities, May 31 - June 6, 2026
CCEC Summer Program
The Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) seeks applications for participants in its 4th annual Summer Program, now funded by a $500,000 grant. Participants will take part in a week-long collaborative workshop, in which they learn about figures in an expanded canon of early modern philosophy (such as Anton Wilhelm Amo, Margaret Cavendish, and Anne Conway) and cutting-edge research on them; discuss inclusive, student-centered, and equitable pedagogy (with 2 sessions dedicated to teaching a predominantly white subject in predominantly white institutions); and collaboratively craft their own early modern course syllabus. After the workshop, participants and guides will meet regularly and continue to communicate as their courses (and future versions of it) are implemented. Participants will also receive an award from CCEC attesting to their experience with canon expansion and inclusive teaching.
DETAILS
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The Summer program is scheduled to take place from May 31 to June 6, 2026, at the University of Minnesota.
Participants will take part in a week-long collaborative workshop, in which they learn about figures in an expanded canon of early modern philosophy (such as Anton Wilhelm Amo, Margaret Cavendish, and Anne Conway) and cutting-edge research on them; discuss inclusive, student-centered, and equitable pedagogy (with two sessions dedicated to teaching a predominantly white subject in predominantly white institutions); and collaboratively craft their own early modern course syllabus.
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The Center for Canon Expansion and Change will offer $400 toward toward airfare and will provide coverage of accommodation.
Faculty members who are able to secure funding from their institutions should communicate this in the application.
Funding information will be shared with the selected participants.
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If you have any questions about the program or would like additional information email ccec@umn.edu
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CCEC summer program is funded by a $500,000 grant: https://www.mellon.org/news/mellon-foundation-awards-14m-for-humanities-grounded-research
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1- Statement of interest (1 page outlining your interest in the program and how it connects with your research and/or teaching)
2-Curriculum Vitae.
The statement of interest and CV should be combined into a single .pdf file.
We welcome applications from advanced graduate students and faculty members (contingent or permanent). We especially encourage applications from individuals of groups underrepresented in (Anglo-American) philosophy.
Faculty members with institutional funding to participate should communicate this in the application.
Applications should be submitted by March 15, 2026. Applicants will be notified of admissions decisions by March 31, 2026. -
CCEC Summer 2026 Organizing Team
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Jessica Gordon Roth (Co-founder)
Associate Professor of Philosophy, U of M
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Dwight K. Lewis Jr (Co-founder)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, U of M
CCEC 2026 Early Modern Experts
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Andrew Janiak
(Duke University)
Andrew Janiak is Professor of Philosophy and Bass Fellow at Duke University, where he co-directs Project Vox. His most recent book is The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman: Émilie Du Châtelet and the making of modern philosophy (Oxford, 2024).
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Nancy Kendrick
(Wheaton College Departments)
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Keota Fields
(University of Massachusetts Dartmouth)
I work in early modern metaphysics and epistemology, particularly theories of perception. My work focuses mostly on Berkeley, Locke, Shepherd, and Hume.
CCEC 2026 Pedagogy Experts
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Jason Swartwood
(Saint Paul College)
Jason Swartwood is an instructor of Philosophy at Saint Paul College. He has published work on practical wisdom, philosophical methodology, practical ethics, and pedagogy in philosophy. He is the author, with Ian Stoner, of Doing Practical Ethics (OUP 2021), which applies a skills-focused, practice-based method for teaching ethics.
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Eddie O'Byrn
(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Dr. eddie o’byrn is an assistant professor of African American Studies at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After completing a Philosophy Ph.D in 2019 at Penn State, Dr. o'byrn worked at Carleton College teaching philosophy and africana studies before transitioning to an interdisciplinary department. Their work has appeared in journals including Hypatia, Sartre Studies International, and the Critical Philosophy of Race journal. Currently, Dr. o'byrn working on a book project tentatively titled - Existence Precedes Enslavement.
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Angela Carter
(University of Minnesota - Twin Cities)
As a McNair scholar, Angela M. Carter became a first-generation college graduate in 2009 when she earned a BA in English from Truman State University. Dr. Carter completed her Ph.D. in Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota in 2019. Angela is currently co-leading a Mellon-funded initiative to establish a Critical Disability Studies program at the UMN, as well as co-leading a new grassroots organization, named AmplifyMN: A Disability Justice Collective in the community.
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Michael Bennett McNulty
(University of Minnesota - Twin Cities)
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Ian Stoner
(Saint Paul College)
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Tamara Fakhoury
(University of Minnesota - Twin Cities)
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Jeanine Weekes Schroer
(University of Minnesota Duluth)
Dr. Schroer is a philosopher of race and feminist theory and an Associate Professor of Philosophy at UMD in the Department of Geography & Philosophy. Her teaching and research concern the ethics and politics of social oppression and its remedies, including, the metaphysics of race and racism; feminist ethics and social theory; and empirical and experimental philosophical approaches to racism, sexism, and ethics. She co-edited the first philosophical volume on Microaggression -- Microagressions and Philosophy (with Lauren Freeman), as well as special issues of Hypatia (on the ethics and politics of epistemic practice) and Mississippi Quarterly (on mass incarceration). Schroer has won University of Minnesota’s Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Award, as well as the Horace T. Morse Award for Undergraduate Education. Schroer is also committed to support her community through volunteer work with the Junior League of Duluth, Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA), and Black Liberation Lab (an organization dedicated to supporting Black folk of Duluth in struggle for self-definition, rich and meaningful lives, and transformative healing from white supremacy).
CCEC 2026 Remote Experts
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Tyra Lennie
(McMaster University)
Tyra Lennie is a doctoral candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Part of her research focuses on the writings of early modern women philosophers including Mary Astell, Margaret Cavendish, and Lucrezia Marinella. Tyra in interested in the important interpretive work of uncovering insights from understudied philosophers but also aims to show how these works can be repurposed for contemporary means.
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Emanuele Costa
(Vanderbilt University)
I specialize in Early Modern Philosophy and Metaphysics, but I also find Philosophy of Religion, Political Philosophy, and Renaissance Philosophy to be terribly interesting. I am particularly interested in the philosopher Benedict/Baruch/Bento de Spinoza, his historical antecedents, and his bold metaphysical views. My first monograph, The Structure of Spinoza’s World (Oxford University Press, 2025), defends a structuralist reading of Spinoza’s metaphysics. I plan to analyze further implications of this view in forthcoming projects.
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Alejandro Naranjo Sandoval
Alejandro Naranjo Sandoval
(University of California, Davis)
Originally hailing from Mexico City, Alejandro Naranjo Sandoval is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Davis. He specializes in Kant, Early Modern Philosophy (with an emphasis on Leibniz and Conway), and Social Ontology. His historical work centers around issues in the philosophy of mind (including the relation between the cognitive faculties) and metaphysics (including monism). Regarding social ontology, Alejandro's work aims to elucidate the nature of racial membership and its relation to notions of expertise, authority, and recognition. He has served as the President of the American Association for Mexican Philosophers and as the Chair of the Community Advancement Working Group at Davis.
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Kylie Shahar
(Auburn University)