Call

NACS Chair 2025

The North American Catalan Society (NACS), with funding from the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), announces this call to facilitate short-term stays for professors, academics, intellectuals, writers, filmmakers, and artists at universities in the United States and Canada. The objective of the NACS Chair is to promote Catalan culture in North America and contribute to educating a new generation of students and future academics. The NACS Chair is part of the cooperation agreement between the NACS and the IRL.

 

  1. The NACS Chair will offer a one-week stay at a university in the United States or Canada, during which the invited professor must give at least three public classes or lectures.
  2. The application period will open on December 1, 2024, close on February 28, and be resolved by March 30 for a one-week stay in September or October 2025.
  3. The application must be submitted to secretarinacs@gmail.com by the host university, which will nominate the invited professor. The required documents, in Catalan or English, are as follows:
    • Complete CV.
    • A project for the stay that includes the lectures and/or classes to be given.
    • A budget.
    • A letter from the host university (e.g., from the head of the relevant department).
  4. Nominees must have focused on studying or cultivating any aspect of Catalan culture but do not need to reside in a Catalan-speaking area.
  5. A committee of between three and five NACS members, renewed annually, consisting of board members and general members, will evaluate the applications in collaboration with the IRL. No evaluator can submit a proposal for their own university.
  6. The visiting professor will receive compensation of up to 7,000 euros, covering travel and accommodation expenses and an honorarium (receipts must be submitted).

2025-2026 NACS Chair in Catalan Studies

From September 29 to October 3, 2025, Rosi Song, professor at Durham University, UK, held the first North American Catalan Society Chair in Catalan Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The activities of this inaugural Chair began with a cooking workshop for students, followed by a tasting buffet in one of the largest student dining halls, Worcester Dining Commons. Professor Song gave a public lecture on Catalan culinary identity, which was accompanied by a tasting of Catalan food and wine. Professor Song also taught a class on the cuisine of Barcelona at Amherst College. The activities of the first NACS Chair in Catalan Studies concluded with a dinner with university leadership.

UMass Dining Services, which has been recognized for nine consecutive years as the best campus dining in the US, prepared over 1,200 servings for the student dinner, a reception for 120 lecture attendees, and a formal dinner for 45 guests. All these Catalan meals were created with the advice of Professor Song, over a process lasting more than six months that involved translation, trial, tasting, and final preparation. Some of the dishes are now included in the university dining offer.

Sponsored by the Institut Ramon Llull, the activities of the first NACS Chair were coordinated by UMass Amherst Professor David Rodríguez-Solás in collaboration with UMass Dining Services.