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Chesley Lectureship

CHESLEY LECTURESHIP

The Chesley lectures, made possible by a gift to Carleton’s endowment by Frank '36 and Jean '37 Chesley of Red Wing, Minnesota, bring to Carleton outstanding scholar-teachers from the selected disciplines for a series of classes, public lectures, faculty seminars and meetings with students.

The endowment is administered by the Dean of the College. When funds allow, more than one Chesley lecture may be held in a given year. A rotation has been developed among the participating departments:

  • 2011-12 Geology
  • 2012-13 ENTS
  • 2013-14 Mathematics
  • 2014-15 Astronomy
  • 2015-16 Chemistry
  • 2016-17 Computer Science
  • 2017-18 Physics
  • 2018-19 Biology
  • 2019-20 Anthropology

Timeline of activities:

Every spring the Associate Dean of the College (ADOC) office (Nathan Grawe) sends departments a reminder about the Chesley Lectureship and the rotation. In the year prior to the lecture, the designated department searches for and selects a Chesley lecturer. The department forwards the name and CV of the guest to the ADOC for approval. The CV should include current address, e-mail address, and phone number.

Once the ADOC approves the selection, the department contacts the guest to explore the guest's interest in coming to campus. The ADOC discusses honorarium matters with the guest. After the guest accepts the invitation, the department and the speaker agree on the dates of the visit as well as the activities during the visit (public lecture, class visits, faculty seminar, etc.). The ADOC office then sends a letter of invitation to the guest with the honorarium amount, the dates of the visit, the name of the point person for the visit, and the request for a completed W-9 form.  The speaker will be asked to return the W-9 form to the hosting department's point person.  The ADOC notifies the Stewardship office about the visit.

Six months prior to lecture

  • Contact Campus Services to reserve rooms for lectures, workshops, or other activities. Be sure to ask the speaker about technology needs for the lecture.
  • Arrange overnight accommodations for the speaker; locations include Headley House, AGH, or a downtown hotel.
  • Add the public events to the Campus Events Calender on the Web (informative heading, short paragraph about bio and lecture, name of funding lectureship, etc.). Consider adding announcement the departmental Web site.

As soon as possible, but shoot for three months prior to the lecture

  • Work with speaker to arrange travel to campus—flight, ground, etc. Contact ADOC for charge number.
  • Finalize schedule with lecturer and provide a copy to the ADOC and Stewardship.
  • Send the Facilities office a set-up request for each room reservation.
  • Contact Catering Services to arrange meals and select menus for events.
  • Contact PEPS to arrange for audiovisual needs.
  • Think about appropriate additional activities and set-up: book signing, classes with students, meals with department members and students, tour of Carleton or Northfield, etc.
  • Ask speaker for permission to videotape the lecture for limited broadcast at the College or on the Northfield cable station. If so, arrange with PEPS.
  • The Stewardship officer notifies the Chesley family of the lecture date.

Six weeks prior to the lecture

  • Create an invitation list (with addresses) and print invitations for dinner to be held on the day of the lecture/performance (include members of the department, the President, Dean, and appropriate Associate Deans; people inside and outside Carleton interested in the subject, as determined by the department). Notify the Stewardship Office when the invitations will be sent and send a copy of the invitation list to them at that time. The Stewardship Office will send invitations to the Chesley family and will notify the department if family members plan to attend.
  • Work with the Publications office to create the program announcement, and posters (provide Publications with a digital image of the speaker). Be sure to use the full name of the lectureship: The Frank G. and Jean M. Chesley Lectureship.

Three weeks prior to lecture

  • Publicity: contact Media Relations for news releases and off-campus publicity.
  • Submit check request with completed W-9 form for speaker's honorarium.

Two weeks prior to the lecture

  • Publicity: submit public event information to the Carleton Weekly.
  • Confirm dinner arrangements: confirm final guest list, room reservation, menu and wine order, and facilities set-ups.  If the event will be held at Headley House, coordinate details of the even with the Headley House Coordinator.
  • Send other invitations for specific additional events.
  • The Stewardship officer should confirm Chesley family attendance at the events.
  • The Stewardship Office can assist in providing a one to two sentence background on the Chesleys and the fund for use in the introductory remarks for the lecture.

One week prior to the lecture

  • Publicity: distribute posters around campus.
  • Send copy of speaker’s final itinerary to the ADOC and Stewardship office. Send two copies of printed materials (posters and handouts) to the Stewardship office and one copy of the same to the ADOC.
  • Confirm accommodations and transportation (flight and ground) for the speaker.
  • Confirm count for the dinner with Catering Services.

Notes for dinner: There should be some social engineering with a head table: Chesley family member, speaker, chair of the department, other most interested individuals. Nametags are suggested.

Other: If there is a book signing, the department should get an extra copy signed to give/send to the Chesley family.

Immediately after the visit

  • Mail check (honorarium) to speaker. Make sure to reimburse speaker for other relevant travel expenses (speaker needs to turn in receipts).