Organizing a Retreat

Sonja and William no longer hold the Scholars’ Retreats they used to conduct in Denver in the summer. They are happy, however, to conduct Scholars’ Retreats on university campuses. Anyone can organize a Scholars’ Retreat on a university campus—deans, faculty members, directors of writing centers, or graduate students. Retreats also have been organized by individual scholars who live in the same area and who are working on dissertations and publications from many different universities. Organizing a Scholars’ Retreat involves the following:

  • Securing participants (if you do not have enough participants at your own university, Sonja and William will use their mailing list to try to secure additional participants)
  • Finding a place to hold the Retreat (locations typically are retreat centers, where participants have rooms or tables in work spaces; libraries, where participants use library carrels for their work spaces; dormitories; or the participants’ own offices)
  • Securing a room in which Sonja and William can meet individually with participants
  • Making arrangements for lunch for the participants: Typical arrangements include having everyone go together to a nearby restaurant or having lunch delivered by a local restaurant or catering service
  • We recommend that participants be asked to pay part of the fee for the workshop rather than having it paid for entirely by an institution because they are likely to be more invested in the workshop as a result.

Scholars’ Retreats can be anywhere from one day to one week long, and the number of participants can range from 5 to 25 (8 participants are ideal). Retreats can be held in the summers, during academic breaks, or on weekends.

For more information about Scholars’ Retreat, please contact:

Sonja K. Foss
1788 Glencoe Street
Denver, CO 80220-1343
303-355-5320
Sonja.Foss@ucdenver.edu