June 2021 Newsletter
Dear WCC Members,
We have so much exciting news to share with you that it’s hard to know where to start. The WCC Steering Committee (SC) has been hard at work doing an inventory and assessment of our current programs and processes while simultaneously planning initiatives for the short and long term future. Our goals: to continue the good work of our predecessors, who have nurtured WCC for almost fifty(!) years, and to create a more robust platform to help support our current and future members.
To that end, the SC held a retreat after the SCS virtual conference and mapped out what we would need to do to make our impact align more closely with our mission statement. You may have already heard about or participated in some of our initial efforts (e.g. WCC Reading Group, collaboration with AAACC for our “Gathering In Solidarity” event, etc.). There’s plenty more to come over the next few months!
Based on the positive responses to these events and the success of the Covid Relief Fund, the WCC SC has decided to invest in our organizational infrastructure AND in finding more opportunities to support the work of various constituencies among our membership. We will talk about some of those changes below as well as give an overview of WCC’s summer events and programs.
For your convenience, here is a summary of the topics in the rest of this email:
Part 1: Upcoming Events
WCC Reading Group - Thursday 6/17 at 8pm ET
Social Justice Workshops (6/15 and 6/24, 8pm ET)
Racially Conscious Parenting and Communication (July-August, Tuesdays at 8pm ET)
Pedagogy Series (July-August, schedule TBA)
Productivity Workshops (July, schedule TBA)
Part 2: Announcements
WCC Awards & Paper Prizes - nominations due July 1
WCC Administration and Bylaw Revisions
WCC Member Survey – shape the WCC
WCC: Celebrating Our Community
Host or volunteer for a WCC event
Part 1: UPCOMING EVENTS, Summer 2021
1. WCC/LCC/Winkler June Reading Group - Thursday 6/17, 8pm ET
The Women’s Classical Caucus, Lambda Classical Caucus, and Winkler Paper Prize committees invite you to participate in a jointly hosted Reading Group featuring the 2020-21 paper prize winners from the WCC, LCC, and Winkler Paper Prizes. We will meet virtually to discuss these articles on June 17, 8PM ET. To register for this event and access the readings, CLICK HERE.
For this Reading Group, we will read the following four (4) articles:
WCC Barbara McManus Award for Best Article:
Shannon-Henderson, Kelly. 2020. “Life After Transition: Spontaneous Sex Change and Its Aftermath in Ancient Literature” in Exploring Gender Diversity in the Ancient World, eds. A. Surtees and J. Dyer, Edinburgh University Press, 2020.
LCC Rehak Award Winners:
Ormand, Kirk. 2020. “Atalanta and Sappho: Woman in and out of time,” in Narratives of Time and Gender in Antiquity, ed. Esther Eidinow and Lisa Maurizio. London and New York: Routledge 2020: 28-48.
Blood, H. Christian. 2019. “Sed illae puellae: Transgender Studies and Apuleius’s The Golden Ass.” Helios 46.2: 163-188.
Winkler Prize Winner:
Schultz, Alexandra. 2021. “Language and Agency in Sappho’s Brothers Poem.” (forthcoming)
All authors have given permission for us to distribute and discuss their works for this event and most are planning to attend the event. The format of the discussion will depend on how many people sign up, and we ask that you sign up early. In addition, WCC is asking that you think about nominating candidates for the 2021-22 paper prizes. Click here for more information. The deadline to nominate for the next cycle of WCC awards is July 1, 2021.
Upcoming WCC Reading Groups (details TBA)
July - Lilliam Rivera’s Never Look Back - July 15, 8pm ET
August - Readings associated with the July/August workshops on Pedagogy and Racially Conscious Communication/Parenting
September - Trans in Classics will curate readings and co-host a discussion on trans studies and Classics
Report from April Reading Group:
The inaugural WCC Reading Group (aka “WCC Book Club”) met to discuss Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide. The attendees all agreed the book was worth reading and recommended it. Some of the takeaways and surprises from the book:
Women often waited to be recognized
It’s important to separate a personal relationship from an interaction where one is asking for something
Car salesmen quote higher prices to women and minorities, often because they don’t think these groups will have other options
Publishing salaries could help combat inequitable pay
2. WCC Social Justice Workshops - June 15 and 24, 8pm ET
The WCC will host two virtual workshops in June as part of a new “educ-action” series related to our mission of equity and social justice. These workshops will be taught by intercultural educator & consultant Erika G. Bertling. These workshops are intended for people of all ages and stages.
“Self Care + Social Activism: a Guide to Resilience for the Long Haul” (Tuesday 6/15, 8pm ET, register here)
“Microaggressions & Micro-Resistance” (Thursday 6/24, 8pm ET, register here)
3. Workshop: Racially Conscious Communication & Parenting - July and August, Tuesdays 8pm ET
The WCC is excited to partner with intercultural educator & consultant Erika G. Bertling to produce a series of six workshops on racially conscious parenting and communication. This practical, interactive series will give immediately useful tools and strategies for intergenerational communication and education around the topics of race and cultural difference. Meetings will be via Zoom on Tuesdays 8pm ET, starting in the first week of July.
Although the series has been originally developed with WCC parents in mind, we highly recommend it to anyone who regularly interacts with or instructs children and young people. Members are welcome to invite partners to attend this series as well. Lectures of topic overviews will be recorded and distributed to registered participants to review or watch if they have to miss a session. Discussions will not be recorded to encourage transparency.
We are still finalizing the programming; however, here is the list of topics we are working with:
Talking to Kids (and Ourselves) About Race
Raising Race Conscious Kids: Preschool to Preteen (ages 2-11)
Raising Race Conscious Teens (ages 12-18)
Understanding Racial Identity Development
No Stupid Questions: an open discussion about race
Guided discussion through a selection of anti-racist readings
4. WCC Pedagogy Workshop - July and August
The WCC has contracted members Dr. Amy Pistone and Dr. Ellen Lee to construct a 6-week pedagogy program for WCC members. The series will be based on a successful “online pedagogy course” they developed last summer and will include both pre-recorded content, asynchronous interaction, and live sessions. Participants will be introduced to current theories of learning and course design and will be shown practical skills and activities that have been tested by instructors in the classroom. Tentative syllabus of topics:
Introduction & Module 1: Course Design Basics
Module 2: Equitable Teaching
Module 3: Designing a Syllabus
Module 4: Strategies for Instruction
Module 5: Strategies for Assessment
Conclusion: Mental & Emotional Well-being for Instructors & Students
Here is the official description of the course:
“Reflective Pedagogy in the College Classroom” is a series of interactive modules and workshops, designed by Dr. Amy Pistone (Gonzaga University) and Dr. Ellen Lee (University of Pittsburgh), which considers student-centered learning in a university environment. Through a series of interactive asynchronous modules, supplemented by a virtual community (hosted via Discord), participants will explore different theories of teaching and learning to reflect on their own teaching styles and philosophies, as well as consider practical applications of these theoretical concepts to develop their own syllabi, assessments, and instructional practices. A series of live Zoom workshops will encourage participants to engage deeply with special topics and thorny issues in teaching the ancient world. The series is aimed primarily at college instructors based in North America, but we welcome instructors of all levels and regions to participate.
5. WCC Summer Workshops
The WCC will intermittently host workshops on topics that tap into the expertise of WCC members. The following two are in the planning phases and will most likely be run in July:
Productivity tips to jumpstart or revive your summer research
Teaching race and ethnicity in the ancient world, either as a full course or as a unit within an existing course.
To suggest events or volunteer your services to support an event, fill out the WCC Event Ideas form.
Part 2: ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. WCC Awards & Prizes for 2020-21 year - nominations due by July 1
The WCC is asking that you think about nominating candidates (including yourself!) for the 2021-22 WCC Awards and Prizes. To nominate individuals for the paper prizes (pre-PhD and post-PhD), click here. To nominate individuals or groups for the advocacy and leadership awards, click here. Many award and prize winners in the past have been self-nominees, so if you are eligible, please enter your name! The deadline to nominate for the next cycle of all WCC awards is July 1, 2021.
The WCC has changed the timing of the award cycle to better meet the needs of applicants. We will now be announcing awards according to the academic calendar, rather than the calendar year. The deadline for nominations of all annual prizes will be July 1. Award winners will be notified in August so that they will have this information for job applications and promotional dossiers, which are often due in the Fall. Award winners will be announced in a virtual ceremony and will receive a monetary prize of $300.
2. WCC Administration & Bylaws Revisions
Over the past few years, WCC has had frequent turnover and unexpected resignations by elected officers of the SC. There have also been unprecedented challenges that have hindered the ability of WCC’s volunteers to fulfill its mission. At the same time, WCC has also been lucky in having dedicated members who have stepped into unexpected roles on an ad hoc basis to help fill gaps in operations and keep the organization going, even during difficult times, such as the one we have faced in this last pandemic year.
As part of the SC’s recent self-evaluation, we realized that some of the stopgaps and band-aid measures that kept the WCC going in the past few years may have been in violation of the existing bylaws. Moreover, we noticed that the language of our bylaws has become outdated and needs refreshing to allow the SC to more directly support WCC members in the current climate of higher education and the field of Classics.
Within the next few weeks, the SC will be asking the WCC membership to vote on a revision to the WCC bylaws. We will also present a new administrative structure that more equitably and logically distributes responsibilities from a single co-chair or senior member of the SC to all of the members of the steering committee. Our goal in revising the bylaws and administrative structure is to create a more equitable organization that welcomes more voices to the table and activates its members at every phase and stage.
With these new bylaws, the WCC will be able to streamline operations and build more robust systems, which include a better website, increased communication to the membership, a restructured mentoring program, a professional development series based on stage and role, more collaboration with partner organizations, and year-round programming. Stay tuned for more information!
3. WCC Member Survey
Many of the upcoming summer events are based on requests and suggestions made by members from previous years. At the end of the summer, we will assess attendance and feedback from each event to figure out new programming.
As we roll out our new initiatives, we want to make sure we continue to serve the needs and desires of our membership. To make sure we do that, we need your help.
Please fill out the member questionnaire to let us know how best we can serve YOU. We have already gotten very helpful feedback that has shaped programming for the first half of 2021. Your input will help us design our Fall, Winter, and conference programming.
4. WCC: Celebrating our Community
So, we already know we are an awesome community, but we in the WCC leadership want to do a better job of shining a light on the great things you all are doing throughout the year.
Do you have an update you'd like to share with WCC members about yourself? Did you publish a book or an article, win a grant or award, start a project, get promoted to a new role, expand your family, or create a podcast? Please complete this form and share it with us so we can compile, share, and celebrate you in upcoming communications!
5. Host or volunteer for a WCC event
We are shifting our programming to include “pop up” events in addition to the regularly scheduled events by the WCC as a way to empower our members. To do this, we would like to welcome all of our members to brainstorm possible events and/or volunteer to host them. Want to run a book club event? Hold a zoom writing group? Lead a pedagogy workshop? Organize a one-time happy hour? To suggest events or volunteer your services to support or lead an event, fill out the WCC Event Ideas form.
We will send updates and details about these ideas, so stay tuned and have a good month!
In support and solidarity,
Suzanne Lye
Caroline Cheung
Serena S. Witzke
--
Co-Chairs, Women's Classical Caucus
On Behalf of the Steering Committee