Intellectual Life
Introduction to the Workshop System
CIR students benefit greatly from the University's extensive workshop system of education. There are over 60 different workshops within the Humanities and Social Sciences, and prominent scholars in their respective fields and advanced Ph.D. students often present their work in progress at these various workshops. Most notably, students can gain valuable insight into the latest research in the field by attending sessions run by the Program on International Security Policy (PISP) Workshop or the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security (PIPES) Workshop. A complete list of workshops is available from the Council on Advanced Studies.
Talks and Conferences
Consistent critical debate on competing ideas is a keen characteristic that marks education at the University of Chicago – and the forums range from larger University-wide conferences, seminars and workshops, to our own CIR student-directed debates. CIR students meet and exchange ideas and opinions on current events on a regular basis, thus honing their skills in theoretical argument and presentation skills. Last year's debate topics included, "Is the US a greater source of danger than stability in the world?" and "What should the Unites States' role be in humanitarian intervention?" The CIR faculty and staff also attend these debates.
Area Study Centers
The Center for International Studies (CIS) has been closely affiliated with the Committee on International Relations from the time the Committee was established in 1928. CIS helps facilitate the University of Chicago's undergraduate international relations programs and helped launch four federally – funded Area Studies Centers. This pioneering approach has been the model for many other U.S. institutions and has proven to be a very effective way to analyze international situations. CIS promotes partnerships between the four Area Studies Centers by organizing academic workshops and conferences, activist outreach efforts, and various other collaborative projects. The four centers are the Center for East Asian Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the South Asia Language and Area Center.
Research: Facilities and Centers
Nothing is more central to a research university than its library. In the course of their work at the University of Chicago, CIR students use the resources of the University's Regenstein, Harper, and Crear libraries, together among the finest university libraries in the country. The University of Chicago Library System includes over 7 million print volumes, 4 million microforms, 30,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archival materials, and 421,000 maps and aerial photographs. The Library provides access to a wide variety of networked electronic resources—electronic journals and books, specialty indexes and abstracts, and full-text reference sources. The Joseph Regenstein Library, the system's flagship facility, houses distinguished area studies collections including those on East Asia, the Middle East, South Asian, and Eastern Europe.
Students at the University of Chicago also have access to the Newberry Library, and to the libraries of Northwestern University. One of the United States' premier private research libraries, the Newberry has particularly strong collections focusing on the Luso-Portuguese world and on Native American history. A fine university library in its own right, Northwestern is particularly renowned for its African and law collections.
