History

March 2022 

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9 students and 13 faculty pilot the a vision of place-based liberal arts rooted in academics, labor, and self-governance over one week on Penikese Island. The pilot program is run under the auspices of the Penikese Island School.

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April 2022

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The Gull Island Institute is founded.

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December 2022

Applications open for the Institute's first month-long, Open Application program, the "Junemester 2023". Over the coming months, applications are reviewed in two rounds by an Application Committee comprised of students from the March 2022 pilot, who select a a cohort of 8 students, who will take part in the Junemester program free of charge.

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May-June 2023

Junemester 2023 runs on Penikese and Cuttyhunk Islands. Seminar meets daily, studying the history and ecology of the region at multiple scales and literary, philosophical, scientific, and political works rooted in the question “What makes this place habitable, and what does it mean to inhabit it well?” Labor includes work on a sustainable oyster farm on Cuttyhunk Island and management the Penikese Island Wildlife Sanctuary operated by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Through self-governance, students set conditions of their collective life and developed their own academic assignments, while developing with faculty a groundwork for a sustainable Open Application program in future years. 

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Fall 2023

Applications for the second Open Application program, to run in Spring-Summer 2024 open... stay tuned!