WCC Co-Chairs Report
January 2017 Dec. 14, 2016
This year has been a productive one for the WCC. Based on our meetings in San Francisco in 2016, Chiara and I identified several key areas of concern to address over the year. In what follows I list there areas and the activities undertaken by the WCC:
Communication:
a) Website updates. Through consultation with Chris Ann Matteo, and considering the needs of the WCC for a website going forward, Chiara undertook a massive overhaul of the WCC website. She refreshed the site’s visuals, and re-organized much of the information on the site, along with updating the archives and other pages. The goal is to have a site that can be updated by the individual officers and liaisons, in order to keep information current.
b) Part of the update involved the migration of Cloelia to medium.com, and changing from an annual newsletter to more blog-style publication format. While Cloelia still publishes articles, these are now available throughout the year. The format also offers increased flexibility with publication times, and incorporates the previously distinct blogs linked to Cloelia. Archived Cloelia issues and blog posts are now archived on the WCC main site. Many thanks to Chiara Sulprizio and to Fiona McHardy for their work on the revamp of Cloelia.
c) Still in the sphere of communications, the WCC’s presence on social media has continued strongly due to the efforts of our Social Media Officer, Alison Traweek, along with Chiara Sulprizio’s work behind the scenes on the Facebook page. The Monday links is especially successful.
d) One more transition to mention here: Lisl Walsh has moved on from her role as Web Coordinator, and joined the Steering Committee as a newly elected member.
Awards and Grants:
a) As a result of the discussion of the essay and presentation awards initiated by Awards Officer Kirk Ormand, this year the WCC moved to awarding one prize for a published essay (the Barbara McManus prize) and one prize for a paper presented by a pre-Phd scholar. The elimination of the award for best presentation by a post PhD scholar allowed us to focus our efforts on rewarding promising work by emerging scholars and published work from a wide range of more established scholars. We had a record number of entries for the McManus award this year. Further, we were able to increase the prize money granted to each winner.
b) In support of the Feminism and Classics Conferences held in Seattle this year, the WCC made five travel grants totaling 2375.00 to assist participants in travelling to the conference.
c) The travel and childcare grants awarded for the SCS meeting in Toronto in 2017 also represent an increase. We awarded one Child Care grant and ten Travel Grants, totaling 2955.00. We coordinated our efforts this year with the SCS, as they were also offering travel and child care grants.
Regional Conference Outreach:
a) A priority identified at the 2016 meeting was the expansion and regularization of the WCC at regional conferences. The primary conferences under discussion were CAMWS and CAAS. The WCC has participated in CAMWS in the past with a panel or with sponsorship of a social event (breakfast, cocktail hour). In 2016, the WCC participated in CAMWS with a table and a breakfast, and in 2017, will co-host the opening night panel and reception in honor of Barbara McManus, in addition to sponsoring a roundtable. In 2016 we also sponsored a breakfast at CAMWS-SS in Atlanta and at CAAS. At CAAS we also co-sponsored a panel in honor of Sarah Pomeroy, and in 2017 we hope to host a panel at CAAS as well.
b) We’d like to discuss plans for continued involvement in these conferences at the SCS in terms of continuity, regularity, communication, and budgeting for these events.
Global Classics:
a) Another important area of activity for the WCC identified at the 2016 meeting was building connections with similar organizations in other parts of the world, particularly the Women’s Classical Committee (WCC-UK) and the Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies (AWAWS). Chiara and I held informal meetings with representatives of both these groups at the SCS meeting in San Francisco and at FemCon in Seattle. The goal is to continue this communication and to work to plan future events together, e.g., a conference on Global Classics, or panels and roundtables. The WCC has also been in touch with representatives from the Women’s Network of the Classical Association of Canada in the planning leading up to their global roundtable at the 2017 SCS, Gender Troubles: Career Challenges for Women in the Academy.
Action / Discussion Items:
a) Sexual harassment workshop. The WCC’s proposal for a roundtable on sexual harassment was rejected by the Program Committee, on the grounds that it did not fit the format of a roundtable. Because of the importance of the issue, we hope to discuss at the SC meeting a plan to develop the roundtable into a panel or some other action to address the issue of sexual harassment.
b) Related to the harassment workshop issue is the question of a conference code of conduct. We’d like to present some ideas to the SC for discussion and hope to develop a plan for moving forward with the idea of the conduct code.
c) Two members of the Steering Committee, Melanie Racette-Campbell and Melissa Funke, drafted a statement from the WCC on the issues of contingent labour. This statement is posted on the WCC website. We’d like to discuss reactions to this statement and any possible future action in this area.
d) The WCC is also pleased to note that the next Feminism and Classics Conference will take place in 2020 in Wake Forest, NC, under the direction of Ted Gellar-Goad. A hearty thanks to Ted for stepping forward into this role. We will seek to discuss what support the WCC can offer to Ted and F&C planning at this stage and going forward.
e) The website Diotima is in need of an update and a new editor. The site is hosted by the University of Kentucky. We’d like to initiate discussion among the SC about a future plan for the site, and the search for an editor.
