Welcome back to a new year at NIU! We here in the Women’s Studies office are looking forward to seeing you—please stop by the office in Reavis 103 to say hi. As many of you know, Dr. Amy Levin, director of Women’s Studies since 1995, is on leave from the program to serve as Acting Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for 2009-2010. Please join me in congratulating her and wishing her a successful, happy, and productive year! I will be serving as the Acting Director of Women’s Studies for this year. I am looking forward to an exciting year working with you all—students, faculty, and staff. I welcome your ideas, concerns, and suggestions for helping the program continue its good work this year—please share them with me.
Women’s Studies students, faculty, and staff have been impressively productive this summer. They are also planning a number of interesting and worthwhile events for September and October. I hope you will take a few minutes to read about them in this bulletin, mark your calendars, enjoy the events, and support this important work.
The biggest news regarding the program is the arrival of our new faculty member, Dr. Amanda Littauer, on joint appointment with history and women’s studies. We are thrilled to have her here at NIU. Students—please come meet her at the pizza party on October 8! Faculty—please come to the faculty social (you’ll be getting invitations in your mailboxes soon) and help welcome her to NIU!
Finally, I am asking for your help. You know the important opportunities—both inside and outside the classroom—that the Women’s Studies Program makes possible for students and faculty. You know the difference that the program has made in your lives. Please help us get out the word about the minor, the graduate certificate, and our events to other students and faculty. As you talk with your friends and colleagues and meet new people, keep us in mind. If you come across someone who might be interested in what we do, please tell them about us and refer them to our office. If you would like some copies of our brochure, please contact Lise Schlosser at 753-1038 or lschlosser@niu.edu.
I wish you a happy and successful fall semester. Thank you for all you do to help Women’s Studies change minds and lives for the better!
Diana Swanson
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This fall, Women's Studies is sponsoring and co-sponsoring many thought-provoking and exciting events. Here's what's coming up in September and October:
Tuesday, September 22
Rigoberta Menchu at NIU—The Latino Resource Center and Women's Resource Center, working with many other co-sponsors, have invited 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu to share her inspirational story with NIU.
LOCATION: Holmes Student Center, Carl Sandburg Auditorium
TIME: 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 29
"Malcolm X Shabazz: The Man and Father Away from the Podium"— Ms. Shabazz, eldest daughter of Malcolm X Shabazz, will offer a motivational and inspirational presentation. Sponsored by the School of Art, Art Education, Center for Black Studies, Intercollegiate Athletics, LGBT Resource Center, and Women's Studies.
LOCATION: Jack Arends Art Building, Room 100
TIME: 5:00-5:50 p.m.
Thursday, October 1
"Paths to Educational Success for Latino Youth"—Director of the Latino Resource Center Emily Prieto and Women's Studies student Candis Nikolic will enhance your knowledge about the importance of Latino education and explore how to overcome barriers in the educational journey. Sponsored by Women's Studies and the Latino Resource Center.
LOCATION: Latino Resource Center
TIME: 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 8
Pizza Party!—We’re having a pizza party. Women’s Studies students and anyone interested in learning more about the program are invited to attend. Please join us and bring a friend or two!
LOCATION: Reavis Hall, Room 103
TIME: 4:30-7:00
Wednesday, October 14
"The Personal is Political: Feminist Disruptions in Art"—Join us for a presentation about feminist art, and then stick around for a unique opportunity to contribute to a collaborative art piece that will be permanently displayed on campus. Sponsored by Women's Studies, the Women's Resource Center, and the School of Art.
LOCATION: Holmes Student Center, Heritage Room
TIME: 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, October 20
"Ann and Myself": Rhetoric, Sexuality, and Silences at Lowell—Assistant Professor of Communication Kate Cady will offer this fascinating presentation about 19th century women. Sponsored by LGBT Studies and Women's Studies.
LOCATION: Reavis Hall, Room 211
TIME: 5:00-6:00
Tuesday, October 27
"She Prefers Girls: Making Sense of Teen Girls' Same-Sex Desire in the 1950s"—Bring your lunch and enjoy this talk by new NIU Women's Studies professor Amanda Littauer. Sponsored by Women's Studies, LGBT Studies, the LGBT Resource Center, and the Department of History.
LOCATION: Holmes Student Center, Blackhawk Cafeteria Annex
TIME: 12:00-1:00 p.m.
For additional events, check our online calendar.
The Women's Studies Program is pleased to announce that Amanda Littauer has joined our faculty. Dr. Littauer, on joint appointment with Women's Studies and History, comes to us from St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where she held a similar joint appointment. She earned her Ph.D. in history at the University of California at Berkeley in 2006 with a concentration in women, gender, and sexuality. This fall, she is teaching WOMS 230, Women in Contemporary America. In the future, she will also teach WOMS 630, Research in Women's Studies; Women's Studies electives; and a variety of History classes. Littauer's current research project focuses on women, girls, and non-marital sexuality between1941-1962. She uses a variety of sources in her research, including records of the American Social Hygiene Association, the federal Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and the U.S. Military, as well as more personal documents such as diaries and letters. These sources allow Littauer to trace changes in attitudes to single women's sexuality in the twenty years prior to the rise of the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
Students can meet Dr. Littauer at the pizza party on October 8 (see “Calendar of Events”). Faculty will have an opportunity to meet her at the annual fall faculty social. Invitations for the social are forthcoming. We also invite everyone to attend her presentation on October 27th and learn more about her current research project (see “Calendar of Events”).
The 2009 Conference for Young Women will be held on Friday, October 23, from 8:15-1:45. Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Women’s Studies Program, this conference introduces women in their sophomore through senior years of high school to careers in a variety of fields, including professions that the U.S. Department of Labor lists as "non-traditional" for women. The conference includes a panel discussion on career opportunities for women; presentations by faculty and professionals on topics related to women’s collegiate experiences and career options; and lunch with NIU faculty, professionals, and students. This year’s speakers will focus on career opportunities in fields ranging from computer science and biogeography to law enforcement and athletics. For the first time, the conference will also include a career interest workshop, which will provide participants with the opportunity to assess their interests and explore career possibilities.
Please encourage any high school women you know to register for this exciting event. The registration fee is only $45 before October 9, with a $5 additional late charge after that date. A limited number of scholarships are available. For additional information about scholarships or the conference, call (815) 753-1038 or email WOMENST@niu.edu. You may also visit the conference website. If you wish to contribute to a scholarship, please send a check made out to NIU with "CYW" on the memo line to the Women's Studies Program. Click HERE to register online.
In November, the Women’s Studies Program will host our fifth annual "Crafty Women" holiday arts and crafts sale. Please consider donating fine art and/or craft items for us to sell. All proceeds will benefit the Mothers Memorial Scholarship, Austin Sawicki Scholarship, and Women's Studies Foundation funds. If you wish to contribute to the sale, drop donations off in the Women's Studies office, Reavis 103. Last year’s sale raised nearly $2,000 and we hope to top that this year. Watch for updates in future bulletins.
We invite you to share your ideas for activities, events and speakers for this year’s Women’s History Month (WHM) celebration. We also encourage faculty to discuss the WHM theme of "Women's Voices, Women's Visions" in spring courses and to develop relevant assignment options. To propose an event, visit www.niu.edu/wstudies/history to download the Activity Proposal Form. You may also contact Rebekah Kohli at 753-1044 or rkohli@niu.edu to share any ideas that you might have. We look forward to receiving your ideas for events and programs!
We welcome our two new TAs, Cortney Barko and Heather Samarinotis. We also welcome back our returning TA, Elizabeth Bowman. Barko and Bowman are both Ph.D. students in English and Samarinotis is pursuing her M.A. in Sports Management. We’re looking forward to a great year working with them.
Diana Juarez is currently a junior working toward a bachelor's degree in Media Communications with a double minor in Women's Studies and Latino Studies. She has been a student worker in the Women's Studies office since spring 2009. Prior to transferring to NIU in fall 2008, she attended Harold Washington College and DePaul University. After completing her undergraduate degree, she plans to pursue a graduate degree in interpersonal communications. Ultimately, she would like to "use [her] media background to create documentaries on the marginalization of women and minorities in American society."
Since coming to NIU, Juarez has been a very active student who has participated in numerous campus organizations and programs. In spring 2009, she received a Junior Leadership Award for her "participation in the Foreign Language Residence Program, volunteerism at Campus Activities Board, and assistance at the Latino Resource Center." She has been a Douglas Hall representative for the Residence Hall Association's Believing in Culture organization and a member of the Student Support Services' TRiO Program. Finally, she is a member of STAND, a student group focused on social justice issues, and the Women's Rights Alliance student organization which is dedicated to improving the status of women through action and education.
Juarez first became interested in Women's Studies when she took "Biology of Women" at Harold Washington College. At NIU, she particularly enjoyed the "Sociology of Gender" class she took in spring 2009, which made her "realize how different cultures define and interpret heteronormative behavior." When asked if she would recommend Women's Studies courses to other students, Juarez replied, "Definitely… [By] taking just one WOMS course, students can learn about how group activism and women's history has in some ways changed how society views the roles of women and how women still fight to gain rights. . .."
Juarez ended our interview by recommending that students should "not be embarrassed to talk about women's topics." She also suggests that students attend the Vagina Seminars put on by the Women's Rights Alliance in the spring and "discuss the presentations with friends." Email niuwra@gmail.com ,or visit www.myspace/niuwra for more information about the Women's Rights Alliance and their activities.
Jill Dunlap became the Director of NIU's Women's Resource Center (WRC) in May 2007. She received her bachelor's degree in Journalism and Spanish with a minor in Women's Studies from Simpson College in 2000 and her Master's in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Sociology and Gender Studies from Baker University in 2002. She came to NIU from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) where she was the Assistant Director of their Women's Center. While at UMKC, she successfully authored a grant for $200,000 from the Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women. As Director of the WRC, Dunlap is "responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Center, as well as setting annual planning priorities and providing a strategic vision for the department." She represents the WRC on the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and the Women's Studies Executive Committee as an ex-officio member. Finally, she supervises "two amazing full-time staff members and five phenomenally talented student staff members who execute all of (the Center's) social justice programs each semester."
Dunlap is currently working toward her Ph.D. degree in Political Science and Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies at NIU. Her research examines "women's political campaign training programs across the country," including "the trajectory of the careers of those who graduate from these programs" and how the programs define the success of their efforts. She says she is "genuinely thrilled to have been accepted into the Political Science Ph.D. program…and to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Barbara Burrell, one of the preeminent scholars in (the area of) women and politics."
In addition to her interests in women and politics, Dunlap's passions lie in many other areas related to women. In fact, she says, "I'm not sure that I've met a women's issue that doesn't speak to me." For instance, she has "always been fascinated by how (young women) come to understand feminism and engage with it." She is passionate about issues related to violence against women and is trained as a domestic violence and sexual assault advocate. She is also "very involved in the fight for reproductive rights."
Dunlap first became interested in Women's Studies as an undergraduate when she took a sociology class that was cross-listed with Women's Studies. "After that class," she says, "I couldn't get enough. I signed up for the minor in Women's Studies…( and) I went on to take every Gender Studies course I could in my Master's program." She is thrilled that she now gets to use her Women's Studies background every day in her career.
When asked about the value of Women’s Studies, she replied, "gender impacts everyone's daily lives, whether they are cognizant of it or not. I think Women's Studies is invaluable because it gives women a name and a constructive framework for negotiating gender in their daily lives. I think Women's Studies courses give women and men students the power to name the inequalities that they witness every day. It provides the 'aha' moments that open their eyes to the gendered nature of the world around them and empowers them to have a voice in making positive change."
We would be remiss if we did not mention that the Women's Resource Center is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. As part of the anniversary celebration, the WRC will hold an open house on Thursday, September 3, from 3:00-6:00 p.m. If you would like to honor this important 30 year milestone, consider donating a book to the WRC's resource library. You can view their book request list on Amazon.
This is the first of what we hope will be a reoccurring column in our bulletin. The Student Column is a space where Women's Studies students can share essays, poetry, and reviews of literature and/or popular culture. If you are a WOMS student, please submit something for consideration. If you are a faculty member, please encourage your WOMS students to submit successful assignments for possible publication.
This first submission was written by Women's Studies minor Nicole Arteaga for the Women's Material Culture in the U.S. online course (WOMS 430) that she took this summer with Rebekah Kohli. The essay was part of a zine that Arteaga completed for her final project.
"A Cisgender Woman’s Reflections on Privilege"
By Nicole Arteaga
Privilege of every type is often unconscious, undeserved, and unacknowledged. Peggy McIntosh defines privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that one can count on cashing in each day, but about which one is “meant” to remain oblivious (Mcintosh). We are taught that systems of oppression and power, such as racism and sexism, are systems that place others at a disadvantage; however, they are rarely conceptualized or acknowledged as systems that place others at an unearned advantage. Because we are conditioned to remain ignorant about our own privileges, issues of discrimination often predominates discourse regarding racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, and transphobia.
I am a cisgender individual, meaning of course that I was lucky enough to have been born a biological female which aligns with my internal gender identity. Because I have not experienced trans identity myself and because I truly believe that the only way to become the strongest ally is to be aware of one’s privileges, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what it means to be cisgender and to present myself in gender-normative ways. Because I dress in more traditionally feminine clothes and make-up, I abide by the rules and expectations which are socially constructed for my gender.
Because of this and my gender identity, I have access to an incredible amount of privilege. Transphobia is a tremendously pervasive system of oppression which is evident in the amount of privilege that cis individuals have access to. I present my gender in normative ways and because my biological sex aligns with my internal gender identity, I am tremendously privileged. These privileges include:
Because I identify as female and not transgender, I never have to correct someone when they use the incorrect pronoun when referring to me. Nor is my “true womanhood” ever challenged because I was born biologically female. My “true womanhood” is also never based on how well I pass or on how much surgery I have undergone. My femininity is not questioned because of my body. Because I present myself in gender normative ways, I feel safe and comfortable in women’s bathrooms. My perceived gender is my actual gender.
I have never felt like a prisoner in my own body nor have I have ever had to lie about, deny, or try to repress my gender identity. My entire life, I have felt validated and “normal” for being a biological female. I have always felt comfortable wearing the clothing assigned to my gender. I have always fallen into the male/female binary and I have never had to feel like an outsider or a freak because I did not fit into these two very limiting categories. Growing up, I enjoyed playing with most of the toys assigned to my gender. People like me are represented, validated, and normalized in every media and popular culture outlet.
I can be sure that my access to medical care and health insurance will not be undermined by my gender identity or expression. I do not have to take hormones and undergo surgery so that my body can finally align with my internal gender identity, nor do I have to come up with thousands of dollars to do so. My gender identity and/or expression is not thought of as a mental illness, nor is it in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
My sexual orientation is separate from my gender identity and expression—because I am cis and I present myself in a feminine fashion, others do not question my sexual orientation. I can work or live in any state and be legally protected from discrimination under the law based on my sex and gender identity. I do not fear violence based on my gender expression or identity. People do not question me about how or with whom I have sex. I can be sure that my potential sexual partners expect and approve of how my body and my genitals are “supposed to be.” My body is the correct sex and I have never had to think about how my gender and sex align. I am never asked to validate my gender identity or answer why my gender identity is what it is. And finally, I am never asked to speak for all cisgender individuals.
Reflecting upon the privilege afforded to me because of my gender identity, I have a greater understanding of the trans community and have become a stronger ally.
Works Cited
McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Tri-County Domestic & Sexual
Violence Intervention Network (2006).
STUDENTS
Elizabeth Bowman presented "Gender Memory in The Tragedy of the Duchesse of Malfy: Webster, Theobald, Figgis," at the Second Annual International Conference on Philology, Literatures and Linguistics on July 16 in Athens, Greece.
Katy Gilbert completed a behavioral research and enrichment internship at Chimp Haven, a sanctuary for retired lab chimpanzees and ex-pets in Keithville, LA, from May to August.
ALUMNI
Shanon (Fender) Dickers has accepted a tenure-track position at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, IL, teaching Spanish. She will also have the opportunity to teach Sociology and Gender and Women's Studies courses.
Former Women's Studies Teaching Assistant Lauren Whalen is blogging at http://unprofessionalcritic.blogspot.com as "The Unprofessional Critic: Adventures of a (Pop) Culture Vulture." Although only a few months old, her blog has already addressed such diverse subjects as the Tony Awards, "Unsolved Mysteries," and the must-sees of the Independent films this season. Quirky, engaging and well written, each post views its subject with a shrewd and proudly feminist eye.
FACULTY
Barbara Burrell joined a turtle patrol in North Carolina, helping to save Loggerhead turtle eggs and their nests. Her team's first nest "boiled" after a five night vigil, and 68 turtles safely made their way to sea.
Cassandra Crawford's article, "The Inarticulacy/Indescribability of Pain: A Rejoinder to Mowat," was published in Social Science and Medicine (July 2009). In August, she presented "From Pleasure to Pain: The Role of the MPQ in the Language of Phantom Limb Pain," at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in San Francisco, CA.
In August, Kerry Ferris presented "Another Fifteen Minutes of Fame: 'Celebreality' Programming and the Mortification of Celebrity" at the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
Amy Levin has been invited to be the keynote speaker at the international conference on museum diversity at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in March 2010. She will talk about interconnected themes pertaining to diversity in museums.
Robin Moremen presented "One Starfish at a Time: Using Fundamentals in Sociology to Rethink Impressions about People Living with HIV/AIDS" at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting.
Barbara M. Posadas presented "Remittances and the Transmission of Resources by Migrating Workers" at "American Immigration Revisited," an NEH Summer Institute held at the Library of Congress in July. Her forthcoming article, co-authored with Roland L. Guyotte, "Strategic Citizenship and Immigration from the Philippines," will appear in Immigration and the Legacy of Harry S. Truman edited by Roger Daniels, a volume in the "Truman Legacy Series" published by Truman State University Press.
Kathleen Renk published "Magic that Battles Death: Pauline Melville's Marvelous Realism" in the Journal of Commonwealth Literature (44.1). This summer, she was invited by two faculty members at the University of London to contribute a chapter on mainstream British women writers to a collection on the end of the empire and the English novel; so, she has been drafting "Imperial Fantasies: Mourning the Loss of Empire in Novels by A.S. Byatt and Penelope Lively."
Brian Sandberg spent much of the summer trimming and revising Warrior Pursuits: Noble Culture and Civil Conflict in Early Modern France, book manuscript under contract with Johns Hopkins University Press. In May, he presented a paper entitled, “‘Il témoigne la résolution qu’il a pris de vivre et mourir avec le parti’: Prises d’armes et les choix religieuses pendant les guerres de religion,” at Choisir et Risquer. L’acteur face à l’événement, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle, held at the Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne. Sandberg then traveled to Geneva to attend the Calvin et Son Influence, 1509-2009 conference and to give another paper at the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference the same week: “‘Put Us All in Good Peace and Union’: Religious Peacemaking in Languedoc after the Edict of Nantes.” Around the conference-going and travels, Sandberg conducted three weeks of archival research for his book project on Gender and Violence in the French Wars of Religion. During July and August, he taught a History 390 course on Film and History: War in Film.
Lynne Thomas co-authored a book published this year by Libraries Unlimited: Special Collections 2.0: New Technologies for Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archival Collections. Her co-author is Beth Whittaker.
Femspec, an interdisciplinary feminist journal dedicated to science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, surrealism, myth, folklore, and other supernatural genres, welcomes submissions for “Kick *ss Moms,” a special issue or themed section dedicated to women who balance the worlds of adventurer and caregiver. Please submit three copies of your piece to Valerie Guyant at: 625 Hibbard Hall, English Department, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI 54720. Submissions must *exclude* any indication of your name on them so that your piece may be read anonymously. Include a separate sheet with the title and genre of your piece, your name, address, email, phone and a two sentence abstract. Also, include a disc with your document in Word and RTF format. All submissions should conform to MLA standards, as found in the latest edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Submissions must be received by March 15, 2010. Only subscribers may submit to Femspec. To subscribe, go to www.femspec.org.
Studies in the Humanities is seeking essay submissions for a special issue on the subject of "Theoretical Perspectives on Women in Higher Education” to be published December, 2009. Submit essays of no more than 7-10 double-spaced pages in MLA format by electronic attachment that is compatible with Microsoft Word by October 1, 2009 to, Dr. Theresa McDevitt, mcdevitt@iup.edu and Dr. Rosalee Stilwell, stilwell@iup.edu.
Visual Culture & Gender (VCG), an international, freely accessed online journal, is accepting articles, images, and reviews of books, video/films, performance/actions, Web sites, visual culture, and exhibitions for an upcoming issue. The journal's purpose is to encourage and promote an understanding of how visual culture constructs gender in context with representations of race, age, sexuality, social units, (dis)ability, and social class and to promote international dialogue about visual culture and gender. To be considered, manuscripts should be no more than 5000 words in length with an abstract of 150 words. Images are encouraged with manuscripts and should be sent in digital format (jpg, gif, or png) with copyright permission provided. Visual research is encouraged but images must be accompanied by text. Original manuscripts should be prepared according to the APA (5th edition) style. Include in a cover letter that the manuscript is original, not previously published, and not under consideration elsewhere. Please place your name only in the accompanying cover letter and not in the manuscript to facilitate anonymous review. Send the manuscript electronically as an email attachment with .doc extension and your name to Karen Keifer-Boyd at kk-b@psu.edu and Deborah Smith-Shank at debatart@niu.edu. Submissions are due by September 15, 2009.
Contributions are being sought for Women in Transit (1860-present day): Negotiating Public/Private Environments, a book on women in spaces of transit in Anglo-American literature. The edited book will explore representations in literature of the presence of women in spaces of transit, such as trains, hotels, hospitals, parks, paths, rivers, etc., in which the familiar distinction between public and private space is eroded or suspended. To contribute a chapter of 7000 words, send an abstract of 700-900 words, with a brief CV, to Teresa Gomez, University of Alicante, Spain, or email mt.gomez@ua.es. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2010.
CONFERENCES
The Cultural Studies Association (U.S.) invites participation in its Eighth Annual Meeting from all areas and on all topics of relevance to Cultural Studies, including but not limited to literature, history, sociology, geography, anthropology, communications, popular culture, cultural theory, queer studies, critical race studies, feminist studies, postcolonial studies, media and film studies, early modern, science technology studies, material culture studies, performance and visual arts studies. The conference will be held at the University of California-Berkley, March 18-March 20, 2010. Conference organizers are accepting proposals for individual papers, roundtable and workshop sessions, division sessions, and seminars. All proposals are due by September 15, 2009. For more information about the conference or proposal submission process, visit www.csaus.pitt.edu/conference.
Proposals are being accepted for the Gender, Bodies and Technology Conference sponsored by the Women's And Gender Studies Program at Virginia Tech. Scholars in the humanities, social and natural sciences, visual and performing arts, engineering and technology may submit proposals for papers, panels, new media art and performance pieces that explore: the technological production of gendered and racialized bodies, historical and contemporary feminist appropriations of technology in aesthetics and representations of embodiment, and the gendered implications of technology in contexts ranging from classrooms to workplaces to the internet. Proposals of up to 300 words are due by September 15, 2009, and should be submitted online at http://www.cpe.vt.edu/gbt. The conference will be held April 22-24, 2010, at Virginia Tech in Roanoke, Virginia. If you have questions, contact Sharon Elber at selber@vt.edu.
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS & PRIZES
The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University is accepting research proposals for the 2009 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics. This annual competition is designed to encourage and reward scholars embarking on significant research in the area of women and politics. The prize includes a $1,000 cash award for each project selected. Honorable mention prizes of $500 per project are sometimes given. Proposals must be postmarked by November 2, 2009. Scholars at any level, including graduate students and junior faculty members, can apply.
Carleton College in Northfield, MN is accepting applications a one-year LGBT Studies fellowship at the pre- or post-doc level, to begin September 1, 2010. The fellowship is open to scholars in any field, but those involved in research on queer communities of color and/or who take an intersectional approach to the study of sexuality are particularly encouraged to apply. To apply, send a letter of application with a description of courses you might like to teach and research plans for the fellowship year, a sample syllabus for courses taught or proposed, a writing sample, c.v., three letters of reference, and graduate transcripts to: Program in Women's and Gender Studies, T. Little, Carleton College, One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057. All application materials are due by January 15, 2010, but review of applications will begin on October 15, 2009. For more information, email tlittle@carleton.edu.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Anti-Racism DeKalb, an ad hoc group of residents from the DeKalb community and surrounding area, are offering an anti-racism training event on Saturday, September 19, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-3:30 p.m. The first session will "focus primarily on creating a basic, common understanding of racism and its institutional outcomes. Participants will engage in small and large group discussion, and will work with a tool to do some reflection on racism within their home institution(s)." The afternoon will include a discussion and planning session. Participation in the training sessions is free. To register or for more information about the training event, visit http://mysite.verizon.net/res124tva/, or email ardekalb@verizon.net.
Balancing Parenting and Academics, a therapy group for NIU students who are parents, will be offered by Counseling & Student Development Center counselor Diane Pospisil-Kinney. The group is open to all NIU students who are parents and have at least 1 child living with them at least 50% of the time. This group will provide a safe and supportive environment for members to explore and discuss common struggles. The group will meet at the Northern View Community Center from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Thursdays, beginning Thursday, August 27. For more information, contact Diane Pospisil-Kinney at 753-1206.
MASIV (Men Against Sexual and Interpersonal Violence), a campus organization dedicated to ending violence against women, is looking to expand their message and membership numbers this year. MASIV was created out of the recognition of the need for men to take a more active role in addressing issues of interpersonal violence and sexual violence. These are not "women's issues;," they are human issues. If you are a man who shares these perceptions and concerns, MASIV wants you! Women can also get involved in a number of ways, including supporting what MASIV does; attending events; helping recruit students, staff, faculty, and community members to be a part of MASIV's efforts; and, helping put the word out that men do care about and want to make a difference in regards to interpersonal violence and sexual assault prevention education. MASIV meets monthly throughout the semester. For more information, please contact Brad Bagley at bbadgley@niu.edu or 753-9713.
The Illinois Board of Higher Education has approved the creation of a Ph.D. program in Geography at NIU. For more information about the program, visit http://globe.geog.niu.edu/, or contact the department’s Graduate Coordinator Michael Konen at mkonen@niu.edu or 815-753-6849.
We invite submissions for future WOMS bulletins. If you know of any information that we should include in future bulletins, please email Rebekah Kohli at rkohli@niu.edu with subject heading “Bulletin.” You may also call 753-1044 .