New GPOW website!

This exciting news comes from the GPOW listserv:

“The Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) research group of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) has relaunched at gpow.org. The purpose of the GPOW Specialty Group is to promote geographic research and education on topics relating to women and gender. The site includes information on our sponsorship of GPOWawards, GPOW-sponsored AAG sessions, our history, teaching resources, and is a sister site to the Gender and Geography Bibliography which was relaunched this past spring. You can subscribe to GPOW site posts by clicking the Follow link on the bottom-right hand corner of the site.

Keep checking back! Board members and organization members will be posting about their research, pedagogy, and experiences on topics relevant to feminist geography. We also welcome submissions from others interested in sharing about their work, research, ideas, and lives, including writing, photography, and other multimedia from research sites and projects. We are also eager to collect information on past GPOW gatherings in the form of photos, and collect reminisces on the organization’s history. Email the GPOW webweaver, Jen Gieseking, atjgieseking@gmail.com with your materials and she will forward them on to the rest of the board.

This site would not be possible without the previous site developed and overseen by Dr. Amy Trauger, and the collection of materials by Dr. Tiffany Muller Myrdahl. Thanks to both scholars for their dedication and support of GPOW.”

 

Interested in sharing your academic experience as a woman with a broader community?

The University of Venus is looking for submissions.  UVenus can be found at the Inside Higher Ed at BlogU and in The Guardian (UK) at the Higher Education Network.

If you’d like to take part in this active feminist academic blogging community, check out the blog and contribute to the conversation.

GPOW Award information

From the GPOW Honors and Awards Committee:

GPOW AWARDS
The Geographic Perspectives on Women (GPOW) Specialty Group is pleased to announce the Jan Monk Service Award, the Susan Hanson Dissertation Proposal Award, and the Glenda Laws Student Paper Competition for the year 2012-2013.

Jan Monk Service Award
This award is named in honor of past-President of the AAG, Jan Monk, and recognizes a geographer who has made an outstanding service contribution to women in geography and/or feminist geography. To nominate someone for this award, please email the name of your nominee and a 1-2 page statement of support including details of activism and scholarship to the committee listed below by December 15^th, 2012.

Susan Hanson Dissertation Proposal Award
This award honors Susan Hanson, a past President of the AAG, whose scholarship has been key to extending understandings of the intersections of gender and geography. It seeks to highlight a Ph.D. dissertation proposal that promises to make substantial contributions to the geographic analysis and interpretation of topics related to gender, sexuality, and feminism. ***Proposals should be double-spaced, 12-point font and not more than 10 pages in length. There should be a title page with the student’s name and institution.*** So that the judges may read the proposals anonymously, do not include author’s name anywhere on the inside pages of the paper.  Email the dissertation proposal (as a .doc or .pdf file) to the committee listed below by December 15^th, 2012.

Glenda Laws Student Paper Competition
This award is named in memory of feminist geographer Glenda Laws (1959-1996), who, among many other things, was a fabulous mentor to her undergraduate and graduate students. Up to two prizes will be awarded, and both undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to participate. Papers must derive from and contribute to feminist research in geography. Papers presented at a regional or national geography meeting from February 2012 through April 2013 are eligible for consideration. Papers written for course work during this period will also be considered. Theses and dissertations are not eligible for this competition. ***Papers should be double-spaced, 12-point font, and not more than 15 pages in length. There should be a title page with the student’s name, institution, level of study (B.A./B.S., M.A./M.S., Ph.D.), and when and where the paper was/will be presented or the course title, term and year for which the paper was written.*** So that the judges may read the papers anonymously, do not include author’s name anywhere on the inside pages of the paper. Please email a copy of your paper (as a .doc or .pdf file) to the committee listed below by December 15^th, 2012.

We would like to continue building the GPOW community by treating this competition as a community event. We ask that faculty members encourage students at all levels to submit written work, and that graduate students encourage and mentor undergraduate students to submit papers.

Please direct questions to the GPOW Honors and Awards Committee:

Dawn Biehler
Geographical and Environmental Systems
University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus
211-F Sondhiem Hall, 1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, MD, USA 21250
Email: dbiehler@umbc.edu
Office: (410) 455-2095

Pamela Moss
Human and Social Development
University of Victoria,Station CSC
Victoria, BC, CANADA V8W 2Y2
Email: pamelam@uvic.ca
Office: (250) 721-6297

Gaslighting: Feeling crazy and being made to feel crazy

“A remark intended to shut you down like, ‘Calm down, you’re overreacting,’ after you just addressed someone else’s bad behavior, is emotional manipulation—pure and simple.”

from “A Message To Women From A Man: You Are Not “Crazy””

I’m linking this article, which about academic environment per se, but it’s one that might help think through how we talk and react to issues of gender, race, and sexuality in the department.  Not always, but sometimes, the reaction to pointing out  individual acts of sexism or racism (not to mention systemic sexism and racism) is that one is crazy.  That one is overreacting.

The author of the linked author discusses “gaslighting,” acts of emotional manipulation that serve to undermine one’s legitimate claims and make one feel like one’s sense of reality is askew.

Job Market Blues and Survival

There’s been a lot in the academic news regarding PhDs and unemployment & underemployment.  And there are quite a few numbers on PhDs on welfare.  Here’s a link to a qualitative study on the academic job market that traces the story of its author from PhD Candidate, to  Visiting Assistant Professor to unemployment.

How many papers is a baby ‘worth’?

Natascha Klocker of the University of Wollongong and Danielle Drozdzewski of the University of New South Wales have written an excellent piece in Environment and Planning A on academic metrics and gender equity issues.  And, yes, they ask, “How many papers is a baby ‘worth’?  Definitely worth a read!

Deciding what to put on your CV

Jo VanEvery writes a short piece at University Affairs, offering some advice on creating & refining your CV.  Here’s a snippet:

“One misrepresented item puts your whole CV in question

If the search committee notices one of these types of misrepresentation, you also throw everything else on your CV into question.

Maybe they aren’t familiar with one of the journals or presses where you have published. Now it will be assumed to be not that good. And anything that just says “forthcoming” with no date or issue number, will now be assumed to be “submitted” rather than accepted or in press.”

VanEvery is an academic coach based in Canada.

SWIG meeting at the AAG

(from the GPOW listserv, posted by the PSU SWIG)

“The Supporting Women in Geography (SWIG) organization at Penn State is organizing a roundtable discussion for all SWIG groups (and those who wish to start SWIG groups) at the upcoming AAG meeting in New York.
The meeting will take place from 12:40-2:20 in the Hilton Americas Hall on Sunday, February 26th (after the GPOW business meeting).

We’re hoping that the meeting will serve as a casual opportunity for all of the SWIG groups from around the country, as well as for any folks hoping to start a SWIG group, to come together and discuss ideas, share success stories, and gain inspiration.”

Negotiating a job offer

A recent study at UBC demonstrated the importance of a job contract’s starting salary.  The cumulative effects of the offer through the course of a career are huge.  (I’ll try to find this study and link it, if I do.)

So what do you do if you get a job offer?

Karen Kelsky (former professor and dept. head and now an academic coach) blogs at The Professor Is In and has some great advice. Here’s a snippet:

Do not, under any circumstances, accept the offer the same day they make it. When they call or email, answer pleasantly and politely, ‘Oh thank you. That is good news. I’m so pleased.’ And then say, ‘I’d like to know more about the offer. When can we discuss the details, and when can I expect a written contract?’ If the Department Head tries to push you for a commitment, simply repeat, “I am very happy for the offer, but I will need to discuss the terms and see the contract before I can make a final commitment. I very much look forward to discussing this further. I hope we can begin soon.'”

The politics of citation

The Female Science Professor blogs/questions the our practices of citation.  She writes:

“A group of colleagues makes a specific effort to cite each other’s papers — those paper not involving the author/s doing the citing, so no self-citation is involved — to help each other get their citation numbers up. They don’t gratuitously cite a paper that is irrelevant to the topic at hand, but they proactively seek opportunities to cite each other’s papers, and, given a range of options for citation of a particular point, they will choose to cite a paper by someone from this group.

If you have not participated in something like this, does it bother you that some people do this?”

She brings up questions about how cite, why, and what is the measurable impact.