FemRhet 2015 Advisory Board Meeting

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Many of you are finalizing your travel plans to Tempe, AZ for the 10th Biennial Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference one month from today. It promises to be a stimulating conference at an excellent venue!

This year at FemRhet, we will hold a meeting of the full CWSHRC Advisory Board (active and ex officio members). Some members of the Digital Task Force will also be in attendance:

  • Thursday, October 29, 2015
  • 8:00-9:00 a.m.
  • ASU Memorial Union, Arizona Ballroom

We will circulate a meeting agenda in advance. If your travel plans allow you to attend, we look forward to seeing you there!

On behalf of the Coalition Executive Board,
Tarez Samra Graban (CWSHRC Secretary)

Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Survey Here

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In the spirit of back to school, with an echo of schoolhouse rock, we invite you to take our back to school survey, 2015-16 edition.

Whether you are in fierce denial regarding the coming academic year, furiously at work on fall syllabi, or packing for a last-chance holiday, this survey will give you something to look forward to: namely a host of upcoming Coalition events and opportunities to be involved.

A 4×4 grid shows silhouetted hands gesturing variously.

Here, I want to highlight one opportunity in particular—or really, up to 45 opportunities linked to the upcoming Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, which will be at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, from October 28-31. This year, the Coalition will again be sponsoring manuscript mentoring, and 45—yes, forty-five—colleagues have signed up, eager for feedback on work in progress, including articles, book chapters, and book proposals.  Now, it’s your turn, would-be mentors planning to attend FemRhet. We need 25-45 of volunteers to serve as manuscript mentors for one or two colleagues. You’ll learn more on page 2 of the survey.

We also have open spots on a variety of committees and task forces, as well as a 2015-16 Social Media Team. Too, the survey invites your feedback on the past year plus your  suggestions for the year ahead.

So, Coalition, welcome to Academic Year 2015-1016. Please join us in making it a great one! Please, too, don’t forget: FemRhet registration is open, and conferencegoers can join the Coalition at a special, discounted rate. Also, if you’ve been fantasizing about hosting FemRhet, now is the time to apply. Proposals to host the 2017 and 2019 conferences are due August 15th.

A tabby cat, Charlie, inspects a catnip-filled apple.

Lights, Camera, 4C16 Action!

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Open Call for Proposals
Performing Feminist Action: CWHSRC@4C16

The Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition is an activist organization. Think about it. Twenty-five years ago, how could a learned society dedicated to feminist research, histories of women, and studies of gender and sexuality in rhetoric and composition be anything else? Certainly, the Coalition’s founders understood that the personal and professional are political. They also knew the importance of coalitions, of groups that represent, of alliances that capacitate everyone involved to act.

Today’s CWSHRC members share these goals and are eager to share strategies for taking action. To that end, at 4C16 the Coalition will host a Wednesday night Action Hour featuring up to a dozen concurrent micro-workshops or short, interactive lessons in both old and new ways of performing feminist action.

Proposals, including an abstract (140 characters) and description (250-300 words), can be submitted online through Friday, April 24th at 5pm Central: <http://tinyurl.com/CWSHRC-4C16>.

Download a copy of this CFP: <4C16-CWSHRC-ActionHourCall2>.

Some As to FAQs about the Coalition’s 4C16 Action Hour

Q: What is a micro-workshop?
A: Micro-workshops are focused and brief, 5- to 10-minute pedagogical interactions that engage participants in hands-on, active learning (i.e., demonstrations, writing on site).

Q: What are some examples of micro-workshops on feminist action?
A: A micro-workshop might teach past feminist actions by staging tableaux of iconic protests or writing new verses of well-known anthems. Micro-workshops might demonstrate actions taken by particular individuals or groups, or they might engage participants in making things: a graffiti wall with messages to a specific audience, Lego or clay models of inclusive spaces, classroom activities that creatively and critically address particular issues, etc. Sky’s the limit—well, almost.

Q: What are the limits?
A: Workshops should take no more than 5-10 minutes from start to finish and involve activities that can be performed either at a round banquet table seating no more than 8-10 people or a 3×3 space. Workshop leaders will need to provide their own materials and equipment.

Q: The CWSHRC is hosting this event: how are H, R, and C involved?
A: Whether micro-workshops focus on past, present, or future feminist actions, workshop leaders should make clear how their workshops draw on one or more traditions of rhetoric and composition.

Q: Who can propose a micro-workshop?
A: Individuals, pairs, and groups of 3 interested in attending 4C16 can propose micro-workshops.

Q: How will proposals be selected?
A: NCTE/CCCC caucuses and groups have been invited to sponsor up to 6 workshops; a committee of Coalition Advisory Board members will select additional workshops (for a total of 12) from proposals received through this open call.

Q: Do I need to be a CWSHRC member to submit a proposal?
A: Individuals and at least one member of pairs and groups responding to this open call must be CWSHRC members; colleagues involved in workshops sponsored by NCTE/CCCC caucuses and groups are encouraged but not required to be members of the Coalition.

Q: Can I participate in the Action Hour and have a speaking role in a regular session?
A: Yes! The CWSHRC session is classified as a SIG, which means participants can also hold speaking roles in regular, Thursday-Saturday sessions.

CWSHRC Seeks Web Coordinator

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That’s right, Coalition. We have not one but two open website positions. Currently, we are seeking not only a web designer to help reinvent the platform and format for Peitho; we are also seeking a new web coordinator, a webwork maven interested in working with the CWSHRC on a variety of tasks for a two-year term.

Interested? Read full details below and please share the link to this page and/or the affiliated PDF with all of the web aficionados you know.

 

Become the Next Web Coordinator for the CWSHRC

The Coalition’s web coordinator maintains, monitors, and updates the organization’s website, working in collaboration with CWSHRC Executive and Advisory Board members. For the next term, one of the web coordinator’s main responsibilities will be ongoing development of the CWSHRC online archive. Additional responsibilities are listed below.

Position Details

The CWSHRC coordinator position involves the following activities and responsibilities:

  • Managing the platform and domain for http://cwshrc.org;
  • Monitoring the appearance of the site and communicating style guidelines to site contributors;
  • Maintaining and (as needed) updating website style guidelines;
  • Filtering and responding to user questions as well as general questions about the site;
  • Providing site access (as needed) for different members of the CWSHRC;
  • Collaborating with the CWSHRC Secretary to establish and maintain the group’s administrative archive;
  • Coordinating the Paypal portion of the site (e.g., radio buttons, membership information) in collaboration with the Treasurer;
  • Working with Peitho editors to upload each issue of the biannually published journal, overseeing the process of archiving past issues, and liaising with the Peitho editorial team as needed.

Timeframe and Remuneration

The web coordinator serves a two-year term, typically starting on May 1 and ending on April 30 two years later. The next term begins 1 June 2015 and ends 30 April 2017.

There are no geographical restrictions on this position, and the job itself is designed to be performed remotely at the web coordinator’s convenience. Approximate time on task should average ~20 hours per month, with some periods of the year (prior to CCCC or FemRhet) being busier.

Compensation is $800 over a two-year term plus complementary registration for one conference each year, either CCCC or FemRhet.

Qualifications

In keeping with the Coalition’s dual mission of promoting the advancement of research in the history of rhetoric and composition and fostering the professional development of women scholars, we seek applications from graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars committed to helping the Coalition maintain and expand its strong presence in the field through digital means.

Strong candidates for web coordinator will have the following qualifications:

  • Academic training and scholarly interest that includes rhetoric, composition, feminist historiography, data design, or technical and professional writing, especially as it relates to the ongoing historical or theoretical study of women’s contributions to the discipline;
  • Demonstrated experience in web-designing, site-building, and/or site maintenance (especially with WordPress design);
  • Knowledge of web programming languages;
  • Demonstrated experience managing password-protected sites and/or sites with shopping carts and Paypal connections;
  • Strong English language skills;
  • Strong collaborative and interpersonal skills both on and offline;
  • Commitment to serving the CWSHRC, which is the intellectual home of a diverse and growing group of scholars whose interests span histories of women, studies in gender and sexuality, and feminist research in rhetoric and composition.

To Apply

While Coalition members are encouraged to apply, applicants need not be current members. Interested candidates should submit a brief letter of interest and current resume or CV. The latter should include URLs to sites designed or maintained, as well as access to other digital projects representing the range of candidates’ interests and abilities. Materials should be emailed to Tarez Samra Graban (tgraban@fsu.edu) by May 4, 2015. Duties expected to begin on June 1, 2015.

Download the PDF version of this ad via this live link.

CWSHRC seeks Web Designer

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Image Caption: CWSHRC SEEKS WEB DESIGNER FOR JOURNAL’S REINVENTION. Peitho will relaunch Fall/Winter 2015 w/media-rich content (webtexts, video). Share your vision & get paid ($500-1K). New platform/format must be compatible w/current one plus improve media-rich content delivery, accessibility, searchability. Timeframe: 4 months (5/1/-9/1). Application deadline: 17 April. BE THE ARCHITECT OF *PEITHO* 2.0

The Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition seeks an individual with web experience to help redesign the online platform for its scholarly journal, Peitho. The timeframe for desired work is 1 May to 1 September 2015.

Peitho is currently hosted at http://peitho.cwshrc.org and operates on a WordPress platform. Since its conversion to an online peer-reviewed journal, Peitho has elicited a growing number of web-based submissions and media-rich contributions that call for a more flexible and sophisticated format.

With that in mind, a new journal platform and format should enable:

  • improved accessibility, including but not limited to providing SEO and article indexing capabilities (optimized for Google Scholar/Google searches);
  • integration with current member services (i.e., PayPal, membership lists);
  • publication of increasingly sophisticated media-rich content, including webtexts, audio-visual publications, and so on;
  • appropriate backend access for editors and editorial staff;
  • easy updating by current and future journal staff;
  • sustainability over time.

The new journal platform and format should also:

  • retain the http://peitho.cwshrc.org URL;
  • remain technically compatible with the cwshrc.org platform, whether or not the journal continues to use WordPress*;
  • remain visually compatible with the cwshrc.org site, incorporating the Peitho logo and a complementary color scheme;
  • enfold existing content, ensuring it remains accessible and is accurately indexed. 

The budget range for this project is $500-$1000. The timeframe for completing this job is five months: May 1st to September 1st, 2015. The Peitho editorial team intends to publish the Fall/Winter 2015 issue using the new journal format in September 2015.

Please direct questions about the redesign to Jenny Bay, Jenn Fishman, and Lindal Buchanan.

Submit proposal (including estimate and rationale for proposed fee), portfolio, and resumé by 17 April 2015 to Lindal Buchanan.

*While the Coalition will consider proposals that include use of platforms other than WordPress, both compatibility and cost are matters of significant concern. Proposals for migrating to a new platform should offer detailed information as well as a strong rationale and a full accounting of initial as well as annual fees that might be involved.

Help @CWSHRC Tweet #4C15

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Who’s in, Coalition? 

The image featured in this post shows a tweet posted by @CWSHRC that reads, “A Q for @CWSHRC #4C15-goers: Who can help tweet our 3/18 6:30pm session? It’s Marriott Salon E—& here, hopefully! .” Below @jcburgess25 replies: “@CWSHRC Looking forward to attending & to tweeting from the session!

Spend 4C15 with Feminists

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4C15 approaches, and there are an unprecedented number of incredible sounding sessions and events on the docket. In fact, it is a near-impossible task to choose just one per time slot. That’s where the Coalition can help.

3/18: Spend the day (9-5) at the Feminist Workshop in the Tampa Convention Center, Room 5. This year’s theme is “Teaching, Service, and the Material Conditions of Labor.” Participants will work to identify ways they can and do engage in feminist labor within academia. First Level Co-Chairs include Lauren Connolly, Jennifer Nish, April Cobos, Patty Wilde, April Conway, Lydia McDermott, Roseanne Gatto, Shannon Mondor, Moushumi Biswas, Emma Howes, Alison A. Lukowski, Nicole Khoury, and Lauren Rosenberg. Speakers include Dawn Opel, Liz Egen, Jessica Philbrook, Dara Regaignon, Jennifer Heinert, Cassandra Phillips, Shelley Hawthorne Smith, and Michele Lockhart, Kathleen Mollick.

The letters CWS, HRC, and NWS are stacked on top of each other at the center of this image. The phrase “CCCC 2015” runs sideways along the left-hand side; the names of NWS speakers are listed (also sideways) on the right.

3/18: Join the CWSHRC from 6:30-8:30 in the Marriott’s Salon E. 

We’ll start with a showcase of new work by 11 Coalition scholars: Heather B. Adams, Erin M. Andersen, Geghard Arakelian, Heather Branstetter, Tamika Carey, Lavinia Hirsu, Nicole Khoury, Katie Livingston, LaToya Sawyer, Erin Wecker, and Patty Wilde.

We’ll end with interactive mentoring tables on the following topics: Alt Academics & Independent Scholars with Beth Hewett & Erin Krampetz, Campus Labor Activism with Kirsti Cole & Bo Wang, Developing Research Questions with David Gold, Sarah Hallenbeck, & Lindsay Rose Russell, Grad School Transitions with Nan Johnson & Wendy Sharer, Fostering Inclusion with Risa Applegarth, Cristina Ramirez, & Hyoejin Yoon, Making Monographs with Kate Adams & Lynée Gaillet, Making the Most of Digital Resources with April Cobos & Becca Richards, Mentoring Undergraduate Research with Jane Greer & Paige Banaji, When and How to Say No with Marta Hess & Gwen Pough, Working in the Archives with Nancy Myers & Kathleen Welch.

This image, an informational poster for the Women’s Network SIG, features a Wonder Woman LEGO figure, complete with star-spangled bikini and red boots.

3/19: Participate in the Women’s Network SIG from 6:30-7:30 in the Tampa CC, Room 14.Open to all CCCC attendees, this Special Interest Group is a participant-led sharing session on gender, professional labor, and workplace equity. Chair: Heather B. Adams.

3/21: Meet the Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession from 9:30-10:30 at the Action Hub in Tampa CC, Ballroom B. This final-day meet-up is a chance to talk with representatives from all 4Cs committees, including this one led by Co-Chairs Holly Hassel and K. Hyoejin Yoon.

Help Us Keep Improving

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This image shows a red wall with a roughly cut square hole in the middle, where grey metal mounts for two electrical switches sit partially covered by blue electrical tape.

As a group, we’ve been busy this year with any number of new projects and initiatives. Two important efforts have been led by two recently formed task forces, the Task Force on Digital Media and the Task Force on Mission Articulation.

The TL;DR goes like this: you can help these two groups by taking their surveys:

For readers who would like additional details:

The Task Force on Digital Media was formed to review the Coalition’s scholarly communication needs and goals, study members’ engagement with digital media both in general and specific to Coalition business, and evaluate the organization’s capacity to support new roles (i.e., social media director), resources (i.e., Tumblr), and activities (i.e., regular blog series). Members include Estee Beck, Cristy Beemer, Kris Blair, Jenn Fishman, Mariana Grohowski (Chair), Laurie McMillan, and Alexis Ramsey-Tobienne.

This image shows the tops of three differently sized paintbrushes in a clear glass jar.

The TF on Digital Media survey is currently available online. The group will circulate their report and recommendations to the CWSHRC Advisory Board and interested Coalition members in time for discussion at FemRhet 2015, October 28-31 in Tempe, AZ.

 

The Task Force on Mission Articulation was formed to address Coalition members’ concerns that the organization does not engage the full range of teachers and scholars doing feminist work in rhetoric and composition, including feminist research, histories of women, studies of gender and sexuality, mentoring, and advocacy for gender-based justice both in and beyond higher education. Recognizing the prominence of white, cis-gendered women and feminisms within the CWSHRC, this task force is working to understand how organization can better support more scholars, including (but not limited to) scholars of color, LGBTQ scholars, and scholars with disabilities.

The TF on Mission Articulation includes Risa Applegarth, Jess Enoch, Barb L’Eplattenier, Kate Navickas, and Wendy Sharer (Chair). They have two surveys: one for current Coalition members and one for nonmembers. They will be gathering data through FemRhet 2015 and circulating a report along with recommendations to the CWSRHC Advisory Board and interested members prior to 4C16, April 6-9 in Houston, TX.

This image shows a white peg board with six rows of differently colored drawer pulls.

We welcome your comments and questions as we continue our work, and we look forward to sharing the results of our labors in the future.

 

Image 1: “Switching Color and Light” by Robert S. Donovan: ; Image 2: “DIY” by Alan Cleaver; Image 3: “Home Improvement, 2011” by Marc Gautier.

The Critical Work of the *Peitho* Associate Editor

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A guest blog by Peitho editors Jenny Bay and Patricia Sullivan

The call for Peitho‘s assistant editor describes the job in this way:

The Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition (CWSHRC) seeks an Associate Editor for Peitho, its biannual peer-reviewed online journal. The Associate Editor is responsible for book reviews in each issue; for following up with authors who receive revise and resubmits and, if desired, finding mentors to assist them with interpreting reviewer comments and refining drafts; and for coordinating efforts with the journal Editors. Additionally, the selected applicant can expect to participate in Editorial Team meetings, CWSHRC Advisory Board meetings, and the CWSHRC Wednesday night open meeting held annually at the Conference for College Composition and Communication. For full consideration, applications are due 12/10/14.

From our perspectives as editors, the associate editor contributes work that is critical to achieving the feminist goals of the journal in terms of mentoring less experienced researchers and honoring feminine ways of coming to know. Let us say more.

This post addresses two questions from our perspective: what does the above description mean to us, and who should consider applying for the position of associate editor of Peitho?

What is the job?
We are trying in Peitho to serve two mistresses: one that preserves the scholarly double-blind review that is preferred for academic promotions and the second that seeks to mentor scholars by using feminist support. The editor(s) oversee(s) the first role and the associate editor oversees the second.

Mentoring is a major plank for the journal, and it is one of the associate editor’s major responsibilities. The coalition believes in peer mentoring of researchers; thus, we institutionally support scholars by having the associate editor oversee mentoring for those scholars whose article submissions to Peitho call for revision. This does not mean that the associate editor does developmental editing for all submissions that receive “revise and resubmit.” Instead, authors will be advised that mentoring is available and is coordinated by the associate editor. Those who contact the associate editor will be paired with an editorial board member and that person will work together to plan how the revision can go. The “mentor” will ultimately help the author assess when the revision is ready for resubmission. The associate editor keeps this work on track as best she can.

Peitho is also a journal that believes in book reviews. So handling book reviews is the other major part of the associate editor’s job. The associate editor solicits book reviews that are appropriate for the journal and helps manage their submissions and copyediting.

Who is needed?
Our ideal associate editor will be someone with tenure and/or years of experience with the study of women in rhetoric and composition. A wise woman such as Lisa Mastrangelo, our out-going associate editor, is needed.

We also want to solicit someone who has a vision for the future of feminist scholarship and work in the field.

Not all scholars in the Coalition hold positions that include work with graduate students, and those scholars have much mentoring to share. This position would help the associate editor demonstrate the mentoring of less experienced scholars for promotion purposes. It would also provide an outlet to give advice and assistance to newer scholars.

For full consideration, applications are due 12/10/2014. The online submission form is available on the Peitho webiste. Please direct questions to Peitho editors Jenny Bay and Patricia Sullivan.

Situating Composition, Celebrating Lisa Ede

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Thanks to our colleagues at Oregon State University, the generous hosts of “Situating Composition,” aka #LisaCon, we can all recognize Friday, October 24th 2014 as Lisa Ede Day. So many of us are so lucky to know Lisa, who is (to quote Twitter) our most wonderful, most fabulous, most magnificent and lovable teacher, collaborator, mentor, and friend. She is also the inspiration for a new Coalition award: the CWSHRC Lisa Ede Mentoring Award. 

Since it’s founding 25 years ago, the Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition has been an organization of mentors and mentoring. We might say scholarship is the head of the organization, mentoring is the heart, and teaching is the open hand. While it is true that we look to our colleague Lisa Ede as an example of each of these activities, we cannot think of anything more fitting than to honor her work by establishing an award for mentoring in her honor.
Beginning this fall at the 10th Biennial Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, which will be held at ASU (10/28-10/31/15), we will proudly and with great pleasure give the first Lisa Ede Mentoring Award to a colleague or colleagues who follow Lisa’s example. Specifically, this award will be given to 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.

For more information about how to nominate a colleague or colleagues (materials are due 5/1/2015) and how to contribute to the award fund, please download our informational flyer, and don’t hesitate to contact us with questions. Please, too, congratulate Lisa the next time you see or write to her.
(W/thanks to OSU and @WritingAtLaneCC for the first and last images, respectively.)