History

The Hill Center was incorporated as a charitable foundation in Massachusetts in 2001. Our offices are at 846 West Road, Ashfield, Massachusetts. (POB 596) 413-628-3951. e-mail: info@thehillcenter.org

Since our founding by a group of faculty in middle schools, high schools, and small colleges, we have produced a series of programs to advance our mission.

The New Ways of Looking at the World Seminar ran from 2001 to 2003, and selected readings are available elsewhere on this website. For each of those years, approximately 30 faculty met monthly to discuss assigned readings, and then for a four day workshop in the summer, where they engaged in informal dialogue with the scholars who had selected, and in many cases, authored the assigned readings.

Since 2004 we have focused on single topic workshops; descriptions and selected readings are posted on our home page. They have been co-sponsored by the Community College Humanities Association, and offered recently in collaboration with scholars at New York University (East Asian Studies, and the Kevorkian Center) and Marlboro College. Programs for secondary school teachers co-sponsored by the New York State Association of Independent Schools have been offered at various locations in New York City.

Our current focus is a multi-year sequence inquiring into new scholarship dealing with various topics in the study of empire. The 2007 offering, Comparative Approaches to the Study of Pre-Modern Empires: Rome and South India, was presented at Mount Holyoke College in March, and the 2008 program, on Empire and Science, will be offered at Brown University, March 28-30.

The work of the Hill Center is supported by individuals and foundations. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at 413-628-3951, or by e-mail to info@thehillcenter.org.

The Board of Trustees

Jane Christie
Kingston, New Hampshire

Lydia Gruber
Windsor, CT

Lynn Dole
Ashfield, Massachusetts

Jill McNulty
Manchester, CT

Shyamala Raman
West Hartford, CT

John Ratté, Treasurer
Ashfield, MA

Lou Ratté, President, Director
Ashfield, MA

Sonya Sofield, Secretary
Amherst, MA

Mark Williams
Granby, CT

Ned Wilson
New York City

Mary Womack
Windsor, CT

The Advisory Board

Janaki Bakhle
Columbia University

Jill Ker Conway
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Peter Czap
Amherst College

Val Daniel
Columbia University

Nicholas Dirks
Columbia University.

Diana Fane
New York

Nancy Jacobs
Brown University

Karen Ordahl Kupperman
New York University

Robin D.G.Kelley
Columbia University

Dana Leibsohn
Smith College

Matt Matsuda
Rutgers University

Molly Nolan
New York University

Fred Paxton
Connecticut College

Sheldon Pollack
Columbia University

Janet Poole
University of Toronto

Laurie Sears
University of Washington

Christopher Steiner
Connecticut College

Louise Young
University of Wisconsin