Drawing Board

The Drawing Board is a regular colloquium series designed to permit members of the UT faculty (permanent and visiting) to present projects at an early stage of development. Unlike many colloquia series, here and elsewhere, that are often described as fora for the presentation of "works in progress" but which, in actuality, feature works that are entirely, or substantially, complete, the Drawing Board lives up to its name. This is a forum for faculty members who would like feedback, suggestions, and guidance at a point in time at which they can be made use of.

In broad outline, the format is standard – there will be a paper, a brief presentation, and questions. However, in order to serve the particular goals of this series, several particular rules are followed:

1. Written materials must be no longer than 10 pages, and are not due until two regular businesss days before the lunch (e.g., not due until 11:30 a.m. on the Thursday before a Drawing Board starting at 11:30 a.m. the following Monday ), though they are of course welcome earlier. These 10 pages can be part of an early draft but need not be. It is enough for the presenter to sketch out the nature of the issue and some of his or her thoughts about it.
2. All audience members will be expected to have read the distributed material in advance.
3. The speaker is permitted only 10 minutes for the initial presentation, before the floor is opened for questions and comments. The speaker will also be encouraged to respond to questions and comments briefly.