ORWAC Newsletter June 2009 no. 2
Diane M. Blair, Newsletter Editor
From the President
Greetings everyone! Before going any further I want to welcome and introduce the newest executive officer, Diane Blair as Vice-President. She will occupy the position for 2009-2010 and I look forward to working closely with her.
As I look ahead to WSCA 2010 and carrying out program planning, along with Diane, I wish to highlight points of possible interest to and requests of members:
- At WSCA earlier this year, ORWAC sponsored a "Keynote Speaker" panel. The speakers gathered were activists and scholars from the Coalición de Derechos Humanos located in Tucson, Arizona. We would like to continue such a panel tradition for Alaska in 2010; one possibility is securing an individual(s) who works with indigenous communities in light of the conference location. Considerations for a speaker include: attention and commitment to issues of gender, race/ethnicity, class, sexuality; cost or honorarium needed to secure the speaker; location proximity of speaker to conference; and conference theme of "power and communication." However, a speaker panel takes planning and a committee. If you are interested in serving on a speaker committee and/or have speaker suggestions, please forward names and contact information to ORWAC President by August 15th.
- Support for Students to Alaska, WSCA 2010: the Executive officers acknowledge the financial burden of travel to conference for all scholars. In particular, we recognize that students often have access to fewer resources to participate and garner professional experience. Hence, we extend a one-time opportunity for funding to students. Upon submission of papers to ORWAC President for consideration, students asked to stipulate “seeking funding support for travel.” Requests will be reviewed and we pledge to assist as many as is feasible. Please note requirements for consideration include holding current membership in ORWAC and acceptance and presentation of a paper sponsored by ORWAC.
- "Idea to Article" Panel for WSCA 2010 - this is a bi-annual event with the last one held at Denver-Boulder WSCA 2008. There, panelists included Kristen Broadfoot, A. Cheree Carlson, Olga Davis, Patricia Geist-Martin, Cindy Griffin, Sheena Malhotra. In addition, Rona Halualani, Mercilee Jenkins and Dreama Moon were also scheduled as panelists but had last minute circumstances arise that prevented their attendance. The double panel session was well attended and much appreciated by attendees. Given the commitment to maintaining such a long-standing panel as well as gathering a diverse set of scholars, members' support is needed. If you know of someone who is ripe for sharing her/his expertise, experience, insights and wisdom, or are interested yourself, please forward the scholar's name and email address to ORWAC Vice President, by September 1st.
- ORWAC Funds: As a member, if you have ideas about how to use ORWAC funds, please send proposals and estimated costs to the President, Vice President and Treasurer. Should our finances be utilized to implement additional scholarships and grants, or in longer-term cd's? Or, maybe you have other ideas...please let us know.
Feminist Scholarship Award and Top Student Paper
Due to the excellent scholarship published in Women's Studies in Communication during 2008, executive officers had difficulty choosing a single essay to award the Feminist Scholarship Award. As such two articles were chosen to receive the Feminist Scholarship Award.
One article selected is authored by Christine Garlough for her article "The Risks of Acknowledgement: Performing the Sex-Selection Identification and Abortion Debate." The second article chosen is co-authored by John W. Howard and Laura C. Prividera for their article "The Fallen Woman Archetype: Media Representations of Lynndie England, Gender, and the (Ab)uses of U.S. Female Soldiers." Both essays are superb examples of WSIC scholarship reflecting theoretical and methodological rigor, attention to issues of race, nationality and/or gender, and models innovativeness and rigor in topic, analysis and/or approach. Congratulations Dr.'s Garlough, Howard and Prividera! Both essays can be read in the fall 2008 of WSIC.
A third congratulation is extended to Diane Keeling, University of Colorado at Boulder. Her competitive essay--"The (His)tory of (Future) Progress in the Graphics of Super Bowl XLII"--was awarded the Top Student Paper. Great work, Diane!
ORWAC Research Development Grant
Did you submit yours?!? Earlier this week, the deadline closed for applying for one of three "Research Development Grants." As noted in the call, "Grants are designed to assist feminist scholars completing research or creative projects that privilege and advance understandings about the intersectionality and complexity defining women's lives." Over the next month or so, officers will be reviewing grant applications for categories 2 (doctoral students) and 3 (instructors, tenure/track). Regrettably, no grants from category 1, M.A. students, were received. If you know of a master's student in need of support, encourage them to submit an application for next year. There are no restrictions on what funds may be utilized for.
ORWAC Call for Papers—WSCA 2010!
The Organization for Research on Women and Communication invites submissions for program proposals and competitive papers for the Western States Communication Association conference to be held in Anchorage, Alaska (March 5-9, 2010). ORWAC seeks submissions that speak to both its emphasis on research regarding women and intersectionality, gender, feminism, and the convention theme of "power and communication." Of particular interest are panels and papers that address the dynamics of oppression, resistance, and empowerment in their varied manifestations as well contemporary issues such as transnational feminism, citizenship, globalization, and the Internet and new media technologies as they relate to women, gender, and feminist activism.
Paper submission guidelines: ORWAC does not accept works in progress nor should papers have been previously presented or published, or be accepted for presentation or publication. Authors who have not previously presented a paper at a conference or published in a journal should mark their papers as "Debut" in the upper right-hand corner of the title page as well as indicate their status (e.g., bachelor's, master's or doctoral student). All student submissions should be marked as "Student" for consideration of the "Top Student Paper" award.
Paper submission should adhere to the following: 1) A title page that includes the paper's title, names of all authors, affiliation(s), email address(es), phone number(s) as well an abstract of 250-500 words; 2) A paper not to exceed 30 pages, including references; 3) No information identifying the author(s) should appear beyond that which appears on the title page; and 4) Save each document—title page and paper—as a separate pdf file.
Panel submission guidelines: 1) Thematic title of the program; 2) Description and rationale of program; 3) Title and brief description of each presentation or questions to be pursued by panelists; 4) Names, affiliations, email addresses and phone numbers of all participants. Alternative formats are encouraged as are innovative program proposals that provide opportunities for engaged interaction among participants and attendees; and 5) Save as a pdf file.
Please stipulate any requests for equipment; however, participants are free to bring their own equipment. For additional details about the WSCA convention, please consult www.westcomm.org. Finally, all submissions must be received by Michelle A. Holling, Ph.D., President of ORWAC no later than Monday, September 1, 2009 in order to be considered. Forward document electronically to: mholling@csusm.edu (office phone 760/750-8576). By or shortly after the deadline, confirmation of receipt of submissions will be emailed.
Call for Editor Applications of Women's Studies in Communication
The Organization for Research on Women and Communication (ORWAC) invites applications for editor of its journal, Women's Studies in Communication. Published for over thirty years, the journal remains the leading outlet in Communication for feminist scholarship providing a forum for research, reviews, and commentary that advance our understanding of the relationships between communication and women, gender and intersectionality, and feminisms. WSIC is topically and methodologically inclusive, publishing manuscripts from all perspectives in all sub-fields of Communication. Reflected throughout the journal are commitments to publishing the finest scholarship that is innovative, risky and incisive and to encouraging the development of novice scholars.
Editorship spans fall 2010 through fall 2013, which involves publication of three journal volumes. The transition between the existing and incoming editor commences in early fall 2009 with the incoming editor to expect manuscript submissions soon thereafter. Also, there is a possibility that WSIC may move to an on-line review and submission process.
Interested individuals are encouraged to submit the following: a letter outlining her/his philosophy, experience, ability to set-up and work with a good editorial board, as well as time commitment, institutional commitment and research experience. Also required are two letters of recommendation and a letter detailing institutional support. Applications, in hard copy and electronic format preferably pdf, are due July 1st, 2009. Following review of applications by the Executive Committee of the ORWAC interviews will be arranged.
Please forward materials to: Dr. Michelle A. Holling, ORWAC President, Dept. of Communication, California State University San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos, CA 92096-0001. For more information please contact either Dr. Holling at mholling@csusm.edu and/or Dr. Cindy Griffin, WSIC editor, at wsic@colostate.edu. For additional information about the journal or ORWAC, please visit www.orwac.org.
ORWAC-Sponsored Border Tour
By Karma Chavez
With the generous support of ORWAC, on the Saturday before this year's WSCA Convention, 10 scholars and a 7 year old, all interested in immigration and border issues, crammed into a 12-passenger van to take a tour of the Sonora-Arizona border. Guided by Kathryn Rodriguez, Coordinator of Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a grassroots immigrant rights and anti-militarization organization located in Tucson, we officially began our tour in Tucson where Rodriguez informed us on the impacts of border militarization on communities on both sides of the border. We then journeyed to Nogales where we explored the border wall and then met with a group of Jesuits who provide food, clothing and some housing for migrants who have recently been deported to Mexico. From there, we went to Sasabe to view another border wall and checkpoint. After Sasabe, we ventured through the Wildlife Preserve on the border in order to get a sense of the terrain that migrants must cross through in order to make it into the United States. Because the tiny road was in such poor condition, we eventually had to turn back for the highway in order to safely return to Tucson.
Some of us had been to the border many times, for others, it was a new experience. No matter our familiarity, I think all of us agreed that it was an incredible opportunity to get out of the conference room and talk with the people who are directly impacted by draconian immigration policies, and see the burden on communities. Upon return, Anne Demo (Syracuse University), who came to WSCA only because of the border tour, started a blackboard group for those of us who went together on this trip. We are calling this group GIRT (group on immigration research and teaching). We are still working out some technical glitches with our GIRT site, but this will undoubtedly be a place for us to continue to share ideas and collaborate with our teaching, scholarship and activism.
For more information on Derechos Humanos and the work they do, visit: www.derechoshumanosaz.net.
"I Say Hello, You Say Good-Bye."
This past February, at our business meeting at the WSCA conference in Phoenix/Mesa, AZ, we thanked Bernadette Calafell for her two years of service as the Vice President of ORWAC. Michelle Holling, President of ORWAC, presented Bernadette with a plaque for all her hard work and service to the organization. Thanks, Benadette!
Greetings from the new V.P.
Diane M. Blair
I am honored to serve our organization as the new Vice President, and I am excited to work with the other officers and the membership in promoting and supporting feminist research in our discipline and beyond. I am an associate professor at California State University, Fresno, and I completed my doctoral work at the University of Maryland, College Park in 2000. I also earned a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies while at UMC. My research and teaching focuses on rhetorical theory and criticism, public address, and women's political rhetoric and performances. In addition to my teaching and research, I am a local board member and faculty advisor for a student unit of the League of Women Voters and a co-founder of S.A.F.E. (Straight Advocates for Equality) which is a grassroots organization committed to seeking social justice and full equality for the LGBTQ community. I am originally from Northeast Ohio, a small town outside of Youngstown, and I make the trip across the country at least once a year to visit family and friends.