Congratulations to the 2023 Lisa Ede Mentoring Award and Presidents Dissertation Award Recipients

Coalition Friends,
It was wonderful to see so many of you in Atlanta for Feminisms and Rhetorics! For those of you who were not able to attend, I am thrilled to share information about two awards presented at Spelman: the 2023 Lisa Ede Mentoring Award and the 2023 Presidents Dissertation Award. Details about award recipients are below: please take a moment to read about and celebrate the winners’ accomplishments!

-Wendy Sharer, Immediate Past President and Awards Coordinator

2023 Lisa Ede Mentoring Award

The Lisa Ede Mentoring Award recognizes an individual or group with a career-record of mentorship, including formal and informal advising of students and colleagues; leadership in campus, professional, and/or local communities; and other activities that align with the overall mission and goals of the Coalition. This year’s recipient is Dr. Gwendolyn Pough, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Dean’s Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Dr. Pough exemplifies the kind of mentoring this award was created to acknowledge and amplify.
Gwendolyn Pough, in a red top and dark-framed glasses, stands in front of a bookcase
Her significant contributions to the study and application of feminist rhetorical theory include an edited collection, Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip Hop Feminist Anthology; a single-authored book, Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere; over two dozen articles and book chapters; and more than fifty scholarly presentations, lectures, and keynotes. Pough has also led major professional organizations, including both the Conference on College Composition and Communication (for which she was Chair) and the Rhetoric Society of America (of which she is currently President). Too, she has served and continues to serve the Coalition through her membership on our Advisory Board since 2014.

Through all of these endeavors and accomplishments, Dr. Pough has been an invaluable resource–professionally and personally–for the many, many people she has mentored, a fact reflected in the multiple letters from current and former students and colleagues that were submitted in support of her nomination. Regarding these letters, the Lisa Ede Mentoring Award Committee explains,

“It would be difficult to summarize the love and gratitude expressed for Pough by those mentees who contributed to her nomination. Many talk about her presence, her generosity, her intellect, and her mentorship in terms that are reserved for someone who has been among the most impactful people in their lives. Pough’s mentees seem not only stirred but transformed by her example. Indeed, the committee was impressed by the holistically strong nomination filled with letters from a diverse and equally impressive collective of mentees. Those who have taken her classes or worked with her on dissertation projects describe a fierce teacher who shows up everyday ready to do the work. Those who have met her through professional networks comment on how she takes up labor that she doesn’t need to do simply because she wants to do her part in building our collective field. Those inspired by her scholarship express how she makes deep, complex inroads into the ongoing conversations about Black rhetorics, feminism, hiphop, and more, and makes it look easy! In sum, the nominating letters powerfully demonstrate that she has a wide range of talents and mentoring styles, all rooted in Black feminist, hip-hop pedagogies. Pough has radically changed the game and challenged white feminism her entire career.”

Congratulations and thank you to Dr. Pough!

Thank you as well to the Lisa Ede Mentoring Award Committee: Moushumi Biswas, Sherri Craig (Co-chair), Laura Davies, Allison Durazzi, and Gavin Johnson (Co-chair). Your contributions to the Coalition are greatly appreciated!


2023 Presidents Dissertation Award

This year, the woNisha Shanmugaraj, wearing a white top, stands in a hallwayrk of two scholars was recognized with the 2023 Presidents Dissertation Award. The first recipient is Dr. Nisha Shanmugaraj, who completed her dissertation, “Negotiating the Model Minority: HowIndian American Women Rearticulate Dominant Racial Discourse,” at Carnegie Mellon University and currently holds the rank of Assistant Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In her dissertation, Dr. Shanmugaraj builds on work by Aja Martinez, Jay Dolmage, Lisa Flores, Tamika Carey, Ursula Ore, and many others as she analyzes case studies of and interviews with twenty-five second-generation Indian (South Asian) American women to consider their rhetorical strategies for responding to and challenging the “model minority” stereotype.

The award committee praised the project for being “densely rooted in the coalitional and intersectional frameworks of feminist studies” and noted that its “contributions in terms of identity formation and vernacular rhetorical practice are many. And the grounded theory approach to the robust data set is well suited to the coalitional stance the author takes.” Congratulations to Dr. Shanmugaraj!

The second award was earned by Dr. Salma Kalim, Assistant Professor at the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan. Dr. Kalim researched and composed her dissertation, “Affect and Digital Circulation in PakistanDr. Salma Kalim, wearing a brown top and tortoise shell framed glasses, stands in front of a white and red walli Feminist Rhetorics,” at Miami University in Ohio. The project draws on the work of Sara Ahmed, Gesa Kirsch, Eric Darnell Pritchard, and Jacqueline Jones Royster, among many others, and employs rhetorical analysis and interviews to explore how Pakistani women create and circulate messages of feminist activism–both digital and offline–to further regional and transnational alliances and to create change in conservative, oppressive contexts. The award committee praised Dr. Kalim’s project, noting that it is “thoroughly and richly situated within transnational feminist rhetorics and circulation studies” and that it effectively opens multiple avenues for future research. Congratulations to Dr. Kalim!

Much gratitude is due to the hard-working committee that read multiple dissertations and selected these deserving recipients: TJ Geiger, Maureen Johnson, Temptaous Mckoy (Chair), Temitope Ojedele, , and Jill Swiencicki. Thank you!

Call for Submissions & Volunteers: Winifred Bryan Horner Outstanding Book Award and Nancy A. Myers Feminist Research Grant

The Coalition is pleased to accept nominations for two upcoming awards – the biennial Winifred Bryan Horner Outstanding Book Award and the biennial Nancy A. Myers Feminist Research Grant! Descriptions, eligibility guidelines, and links to submission instructions for both awards are below. To see a list of past award winners, and to learn more about our awards in general, please visit https://cfshrc.org/awards.

We’re also seeking additional award committee members for both awards. Reviewers will receive my deepest gratitude and will get the chance to read some excellent books and/or learn about cutting edge, emerging research! If you are interested in helping adjudicate either award, please reach out to me at sharerw@ecu.edu as soon as possible to let me know.

I am happy to answer any questions about the awards or the award committees.

All best,
Wendy Sharer, Immediate Past President and Awards Coordinator
sharerw@ecu.edu

WINIFRED BRYAN HORNER OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD

The Winifred Bryan Horner Outstanding Book Award is presented biennially in even years for work in the field of composition and rhetoric to recognize outstanding scholarship and research in the areas of feminist pedagogy, practice, history, and theory. The award carries a $200 honorarium and will be presented at the Wednesday evening meeting of the Coalition at the 2024 Conference on College Composition and Communication.

An eligible nomination will have been published in the two years previous to the year of the award. (For example, a work eligible for the 2024 award will have been published in calendar year 2022 or 2023.) Single or multiple authored books, as well as edited volumes, are eligible. We welcome nominations from authors, editors, publishers, or readers. To be eligible for the award, a nominee must be a member of Coalition at the time of nomination.

Please see the Horner Award Page for review criteria and application details. Nominating statements and 5 (five) physical or electronic copies of the nominated book are due to Wendy Sharer (sharerw@ecu.edu) by December 1, 2023.

NANCY A. MYERS FEMINIST RESEARCH GRANT

The Nancy A. Myers Feminist Research Grant is also presented biennially in even years to help researchers discover, pursue, or continue feminist projects that require funding and funded activities. This award provides up to $700 for eligible activities, including – but not limited to – archival research, translation, interview transcription, and digital archivization and/or digital project development. It will be presented at the Wednesday evening meeting of the Coalition at the 2024 Conference on College Composition and Communication.

Please see the Myers Award Page for eligibility requirements and application details. Application materials are due to Wendy Sharer (sharerw@ecu.edu) by January 10, 2024.

Welcome Hannah Taylor to the Peitho Editorial Team

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Hannah Taylor will serve as Peitho‘s next Web Coordinator.

A head, shoulders, and torso shot of Hannah Taylor. Hannah is standing outside near a brick wall with some greenery behind her. She is smiling. She wears a white blouse dotted with clusters of pink cherries, and has shoulder-length brown curly hair. She wears a small gold nose piercing.

Hannah Taylor, incoming Web Coordinator

Hannah is a Lecturer in the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University. Hannah’s research focuses on the intersections of public health, feminist rhetorics, and reproductive rights. Specifically, she analyzes the material, technological, and public discourses that shape the ways we discuss reproductive processes, bodies, and freedoms.

Peitho’s Web Coordinator supports the journal in significant ways, including building or uploading all issues of the journal to its Web-based platform, converting all issues to accessible PDFs, and archiving past issues. We have been fortunate to have excellent and caring folks serve us in this role, and we know Hannah will continue this tradition of excellence and care. She has a demonstrated commitment to accessibility, both at the front- and back-end of journal production, has worked collaboratively on establishing Communication Design Quarterly as a stand-alone journal, and assisted with multiple publication projects at Clemson University’s Pearce Center for Communication while in graduate school.

Finally, when she is not working, Hannah likes to bake, read, and craft alongside her dog and cat. She is excited to join the editorial team of Peitho, and we could not be more pleased to welcome her to the team!

2023 Nan Johnson Outstanding Graduate Student Travel Awards

I write to share more good news! On behalf of the Nan Johnson Outstanding Graduate Student Travel Award Committee, I am pleased to announce this year’s recipients, each of whom will receive complimentary conference registration for Feminisms and Rhetorics and a $200 stipend to help offset travel costs. Many thanks to those who served on the committee for their time and careful consideration of our many applicants! Members of the committee included Stephanie Jones, Callie Kostelich, Shirley Wilson Logan, Tara Pauliny (Chair), and Kaia Simon.

Below are the recipients, along with information about their sessions at FemRhet. Congratulations to all!

Wendy Sharer, Immediate Past President and Awards Coordinator

 _________

Marissa Boglin, wearing a turquoise blouse with pink, blue, and black floral pattern, stands in front of a grey background.

Marissa Boglin

Marissa Boglin, University of Alabama

F.2, “Centering Silence and Reflection for Justice in the Writing Classroom”

 

Samira Grayson, wearing a white shirt with black horizontal stripes and clear-framed glasses, stands in from of a grey background.

Samira Grayson

Samira Grayson, Middle Tennessee State University

L.2, “Methods: Co-Authorship, Rhetorical Mapping, and Tools to Become Agents of Change”

 

Juliette Holder, wearing a gray and white striped shirt light brown blazer, stands in front of a tan wall.

Juliette Holder

Juliette Holder, Texas Women’s University

F.1, “Interrogating White Feminism”

 

Julie Kidder, wearing a light blue sweater with white shapes, stands in a hallway.

Julie Kidder

Julie Kidder, Carnegie Mellon University

A.2, “Critical Race Theory: Counterstory, Autoethnography, and Multiracial Bodies”

 

Jeanetta Mohlke-Hill, wearing a red top and tortoise shell glasses, stands in front of trees.

Jeanetta Mohlke-Hill

Jeanetta Mohkle-Hill, Michigan State University

F.4, “Finding Theory in Material Storytelling:

Embodied Textile Literacies of Social Justice Quilting, Home-Making, and Yoruba Weaving Practices”

 

Temitope Ojedele, wearing a blue shirt and black jacket, stands in front of a white background.

Temitope Ojedele

Temitope Ojedele, Virginia Tech University

G.6, “Transnational Feminism in Multiple Contexts and Countries in the Global South” (Roundtable)

 

Sidney Turner, wearing a white top with leaf embroidery, stands in from of a brick wall.

Sidney Turner

Sidney Turner,  Syracuse University

G.2, “Interrogating Media Representations of the ‘Ideal’ Feminine”

 

 

Feminisms and Rhetorics Program

Dear All,

The program for the 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics Deconference is here! Looking at this fabulous program, I’m so excited to get to Spelman! Please check back in on the program for small changes and updates as the deconference gets closer. The accessibility guide to the conference is on it’s way as well.

Thanks to all who have been working so hard on this event!

Jess

Call for Applications: Peitho Web Coordinator

Peitho Journal Seeks Next Web Coordinator

Application Deadline: September 15, 2023

Peitho, the EBSCO-indexed flagship journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition (CFSHRC), seeks its next Web Coordinator to serve a 2-year term (October 1, 2023 to April 30, 2025), with the possibility of extending or renewing. As part of a highly collaborative editorial team, the Web Coordinator will work with Peitho’s Editors to upload each issue of the journal (currently published four times per year) and to archive past issues.

Qualifications

We seek applications from graduate students, faculty, and/or independent scholars committed to helping Peitho maintain and expand its strong presence in the field through digital means. All applications will be considered, but strong candidates will have the following qualifications:

  • Experience with Adobe In-design or similar publishing or page layout software;
  • Experience with webpage building in WordPress;
  • Familiarity with web accessibility standards;
  • Strong communication skills;
  • Strong record of collaboration and/or teamwork:
  • Ability to meet deadlines;
  • Commitment to serving the CFSHRC, which is the intellectual home of a diverse and growing group of scholars whose interests span histories of studies in gender and sexuality and feminist research in rhetoric and composition.

Time Commitment/Workflow

The time commitment for the position is roughly 50 hours per issue, with the bulk of that work occurring in the 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after each issue comes out. The schedule varies a bit, but the goal is to have the Summer issue out in late September, the Fall issue out in late December, the Winter issue out in late March, and the Spring issue out in late June. The incoming Web Coordinator will have the advantage of working with a larger than usual editorial team, receiving mentoring in the role, and helping Peitho to migrate to its new platform with the WAC Clearinghouse sometime in 2024. Also, because we are conducting the search a bit later this year, the incoming Web Coordinator will be responsible for helping with only 7 of the next 8 issues in the two-year term.

Remuneration

While this is a mostly volunteer position, remuneration is $500 for a two-year term, plus complementary registration once a year at a conference where the CFSHRC has a strong presence (e.g., CCCC, FemRhet, RSA, ISHR, NCA, etc.).

To Apply

Coalition members are encouraged to apply, but applicants need not be current members. Interested candidates need only submit a brief letter of interest and current resume or CV with references in a single file (PDF, with your name in the filename). Materials should be e-mailed to the Chair of the Peitho Editorial Board, Tarez Graban (tgraban@fsu.edu), by September 15, 2023.

Updates for the 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics Deconference at Spelman College

We have updated information regarding the 2023 Feminisms and Rhetorics Deconference at Spelman College! On the conference website you can now find information regarding:

  • Schedule: The website now displays the deconference schedule at-a-glance and the deconference special events.
  • Registration: Registration will open next week, and another email notification will go out at that time. For now, please visit the deconference registration page to provide any information related to your access needs and to see registration details.
  • Accommodations & Transportation: There are 6 hotel options in Atlanta with discounted rates for FemRhets attendees. Please visit the accommodations page to view these options. Should you need guidance on local transportation and how to get to Spelman, please see the transportation page.
  • Presentation information: Please check your inboxes for an email with information regarding your presentation day and time.

Thank you to all those who worked on these important conference details; I look forward to seeing you in Atlanta very soon!

Peitho and EBSCO

The editorial team and editorial board are pleased to announce that the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition has entered into an electronic licensing relationship with EBSCO Information Services, one of the more prolific aggregators of full-text journals, magazines, and other sources for teaching and research. As a result of this relationship, the full text of Peitho will soon be available via EBSCO’s databases, with indexing. Full indexing may occur gradually over the next few months, but in the meantime, you should begin to see that the journal has become available in some of the platforms hosted by your university or college libraries.