Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies (CGIS)

 

October 23-25, 2009

In Fall 2009, CGIS will host a three-day conference “Succeeding as Women in Higher Education” (http://cortland.edu/swhe). Regional and national experts and scholars will be invited to discuss changes in academic practices and values.
Institutional change will be addressed in this forum, looking at academia’s needs and models that are effective and could be replicated. Taking our cue from Bernice Sandler (referred to as the “godmother of Title IX” by the New York Times) who called on institutions to take steps to dismantle the chilly gender climate, this conference will focus on talks and workshops that teach about best practices across the academy.  Thus we invite female graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, administrators, and professionals.  We will provide networking, mentoring, and educational opportunities at concurrent sessions, a plenary with regional college and university presidents, and a keynote address designed to investigate these questions:

1. What are the reasons that women are not in leadership positions in higher education in general? 
2. What institutional practices exist to support, enhance, and cultivate gender equity in higher education?
3. What values impede or promote women in leadership positions?
4. What attributes or credentials are required for women in leadership positions?

Papers, artistic presentations, and workshops may address gender equity in some of (but not limited to) the following ways:

1. Identifying and developing counter-values that are non-hierarchical and inclusive in decision making strategies.
2. Best practices of gender equity in successful institutions
3. Fully examining and identifying dimensions of the “chilly climate”
4. The effects of Women’s Centers and Women’s Studies program on the college/university/community
5. The efficacy and purpose of Women’s Faculty Networks and/or Women’s Initiatives
6. Supporting scholarship with more flexible schedules and other practices
7. Professional development/mentorship program for women professors
8. Union versus non-unionized campuses vis-à-vis family friendly policies
9. Leadership development and succession planning for the next generation of female leaders
10. Focusing on professional advancement through the lens of age, ability and ableism, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation 
11. Protecting academic freedom and resisting academic repression

 

The program committee will select the best papers for inclusion in Wagadu: A Transnational Journal of Women’s and Gender Studies (wagadu.org).

 

Send your 250 word proposals, abstracts, poster sessions to: gender@cortland.edu by August 15, 2009.
Or mail it to:

Mechthild Nagel, Director
Center for Gender and Intercultural Studies
Old Main
PO Box 2000
State University of New York-College at Cortland
Cortland, NY 13045-0900

Phone: +(607) 753-5784
Fax: +(607) 753-5694

Registration fees: $125 ($140 after October 1) which includes a continental breakfast, luncheon and dinner.

Checks should be made out to: The Research Foundation of SUNY with an indication that it is for the CGIS Conference—please mail it to the director, Dr. Nagel.

**************

Enjoy Cortland during the autumn foliage season. Cortland is in the heart of central New York, in the beautiful Fingerlakes Region. It is close to Ithaca, NY, and is home to state parks, hiking trails, water falls, gorges, and vineyards. Importantly, it’s close to Seneca Falls, home of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park and Women’s Hall of Fame, and Auburn, home of the Harriet Tubman Museum, and Fayetteville, home of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation. Nearest airports are in Ithaca (20 miles) and Syracuse (35 miles).

The conference will be held on the college campus in Old Main building, which has ample parking.