Teaching and Learning

Visiting Scholars and Artists Program

About the program

Established in 1960, the Visiting Scholars and Artists Program (VSAP) makes important contributions to the intellectual life of Western Michigan University. This program provides funds for for departments and academic programs to bring distinguished scholars and artists to campus. Visitors meet with faculty and students, present seminars or forums, conduct displays of work and address gatherings that are open to the public. Since the program began, it has supported over 600 visits by scholars and artists representing more than 67 academic disciplines.

Application Procedure

Grant awards are announced during the academic year preceding the visit. Awards for scholars and artists who will visit between September and April will be announced in June and November. Grants generally do not exceed $1,500. Larger grants are only awarded to those applications that attract students and faculty members from more than one unit. Departments that have not recently been awarded a grant are encouraged to apply. 

The deadline for Visiting Scholars and Artist Program nominations is April 1 and September 30. If the deadline is during the weekend, please submit that Monday by 5 p.m.

Contact Tonya Dean at the link below to request a VSAP application.

Request a VSAP application

Application Materials

Please carefully review all instructions.

Fill in all blanks. The signature of the department/unit chair/program director is required.

  • Briefly highlight specific accomplishments of the proposed visitor that make him or her a distinguished scholar/artist in the field.
  • Briefly describe the proposed activities and assess the appeal and impact they would have. Priority will be given to visitors that are of interest to more than one department/unit.

Please strive to make this paragraph informative for the potential audience. The committee will not rewrite the sketch to meet the 125-word limitation. Failure to include this sketch will cause the application to be returned without action. Avoid typos and grammatical errors.
 

  • Use the attached form on page 3 to submit a brief biographical and academic sketch of no more than 125 words (typed). It should also include information about the type of events and the dates and locations as available.
  • If your application is funded, you will need to submit an UPDATED electronic version (Word or PDF) of the biographical sketch by Friday, June 19, 2026 to tonya.dean@wmich.edu; please use “VSAP 2026” in the subject line.

Submit a schedule that outlines the proposed activities and include locations, times, and anticipated audiences.

Submit an itemized budget with justification. The primary purpose of a VSAP award is to cover travel expenses and (part of) an honorarium. The budget may include reasonable spending for refreshments/catering. Indicate how much support is requested from VSAP. Specify the sources of other funds that support this visit. The visitors’ honorarium should be reasonable and not exceed $500 per day or $2,200 total (from all sources). Provide a justification if your guest will receive a larger honorarium.

Attach a copy of the letter or email in which the guest agrees to visit WMU.

Attach curriculum vitae (in English) for the proposed scholar/artist. This should be different from the “biographical sketch” mentioned above and should contain detailed information about the academic background and creative work of the visitor.

Fill out the attached checklist and submit it along with your application materials in order given in the checklist.

IMPORTANT:

Please submit your complete application electronically. The deadline for Visiting Scholars and Artist Program nominations is April 1 and September 30 by 5 p.m. If the deadline is during the weekend, please submit that Monday by 5 p.m. see page 4, entry 9.

 

Upcoming VSAP Events

Dates are subject to change. For information about specific topics, detailed schedules for each scholar or artists, and specific times and locations of events, please contact the corresponding host or the sponsoring departments as outlined.

Sponsors: Band—School of Music

Nicole Piunno is an accomplished composer of music for concert bands throughout the world. Her works are performed consistently by university, high school, and middle school bands, and it is rare to attend a major music convention that does not feature her music. Piunno is a full-time composer, after earning her composition degrees from Michigan State University and Central Michigan University. Piunno will rehearse the All-Star Band and the WMU Wind Symphony during the Spring Conference on Wind & Percussion Music in Miller Auditorium on April 23, 2026. Two visiting high school bands and our WMU Symphonic Band will also perform her music. Piunno will present two clinics for attendees, and she will teach a master class for WMU composition majors on Friday, April 24.

VSAP Dates: April 22-24, 2026
VSAP Host: Dr. Scott Boerma

Sponsors: Medieval Institute, Dept of Spanish and History, and the Gilmore School of Music

Ronnie Malley is a multi-instrumentalist musician, theater maker, educator, focusing on musical styles from the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and medieval Spain. He has worked on plays, films, and TV series including the
Grammy and Tony award-winning Broadway musical The Band’s Visit, Mo (Netflix), The Jungle Book (Disney, Goodman Theatre), and Saffron Kingdom (Arfat Sheikh). He appears on albums including Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia, American Griot (Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Award), and Omar Offendum's Little Syria. He has a BA in Global Music Studies (DePaul), MA in Languages (Arabic and Hebrew) from Chicago, where he is a PhD student in
Ethnomusicology. 

He will perform music from al-Andalus on May 16 pm 7:00pm and hold a workshop May 15, 1:30pm, both in Kanley Chapel.

VSAP Dates: May 14—16, 2026
VSAP Host: Robert Berkhofer and Marjorie Harrington

Committee Members