[ADS-M] Opportunity for Grad Students and Recent Grads

Tue Nov 9 19:17:55 UTC 2021

From: Julie Roberts <julie.roberts.uvm at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 9, 2021 at 11:14 AM

Dear ADS members,

The American Council of Learned Societies has begun a project promoting
diversity and inclusion in the academy. As part of this project, they have
invited participation from the member societies (of which ADS is one) as
described below. Specifically, they are inviting 2 grad students or recent
PhD’s from each organization to take part, as described below. If you know
someone who would be appropriate for and interested in this, please let me
know. All expenses for participation (travel, lodging, etc.) will be paid
by ACLS. Unfortunately, the turn-around is tight: We must let them know if
we (ADS) want to participate by 11/20. If you have questions, please ask
and I’ll try to answer.

Best,

Julie\

Julie Roberts, Ph.D.

(she, her, hers)
Professor Emerita, Linguistics, University of Vermont
Executive Director, American Dialect Society
Julie.Roberts.uvm at gmail.com

Dear Julie,

We write to enthusiastically invite you to participate in the 2022
ACLS *Intention
Foundry* or *IF, *on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Anti-racism in the
Academy! Thanks to a generous $2 million grant
<https://www.acls.org/ACLS-News/ACLS-News/January-2020/ACLS-Awarded-Mellon-Grant-Advancing-Equity-Across-Disciplines>
from
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, over three years (2021, 2022, 2023),
IF will equip ACLS to advance equity and diversity through collaboration
among our ecosystem’s triangular network of stakeholders - scholars of
color (with a focus on the emerging generation of recent PhDs) across the
humanities and interpretive social sciences; ACLS learned society executive
directors and staff; and thoughtful leaders in higher education.

I’m pleased to announce that we will convene our second iteration of the
Intention Foundry on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-racism in 2022,
in our new our two-part, spring and summer format. We genuinely hope
you will consider joining us in 2022.

Last fall, Dr. Jovonne Bickerstaff, our senior program officer for higher
education initiatives at ACLS, took on the role of lead organizer, renaming
what were then called the Summer Institutes the “Intention Foundry,
<https://acls.org/About-ACLS/Intention-Foundry>” to capture the dynamic
work of hammering out good intentions into action. We see IF as an
incubator to amplify successful efforts and devise new coordinated
strategies for change, by fostering new partnerships, encouraging creative
speculation, and supporting collaborative problem-solving to pilot and
implement initiatives that help us achieve a more equitable, inclusive, and
just academy.

ACLS is attentive to the challenges and work many of you, our member
societies, are grappling with around the futures of societies, membership,
as well as around inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism. IF offers
an opportunity to integrate these threads by illuminating current efforts,
energizing their memberships, and identifying actionable paths forward to
recruit, retain and, especially, support historically and systemically
disadvantaged groups, especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx and
first-generation scholars. Concrete take-aways may include: advice on
anti-racism-related curriculum change, best practices for mentorship, creating
multi-society mentorship networks, mounting campaigns to expand the canon, or
fact-finding/data analysis projects for ACLS.

We are equally attuned to how emerging scholars may not always feel at home
within existing society or university structures. A key priority in
developing IF was having these scholars, who know better than anyone the
obstacles they face, take a leading role in *setting* the agenda for
advancing anti-racism, equity and justice in their fields and institutions.
We hope that this orientation also strengthens the 40 research universities
in ourResearch University Consortium
<https://www.acls.org/Membership/ACLS-Research-University-Consortium> and 78
academic societies
<https://www.acls.org/Member-Societies/Society-Profiles.aspx> in the
humanities and related social sciences that ACLS works closely with.

*Plans for 2022*

The Intention Foundry consists of a series of intensive online and
in-person institutes centered on aspirational projects proposed by the next
generation of scholars. Hearing their hopes, concerns, and propositions for
change at IF’s outset, not only disrupts the status quo, it positions them
to *set *the agenda for changes that will create a more just academy in the
21st century. Building on the success of our inaugural convening, IF 2022
will maintain the structure from the inaugural convening, cultivating two
groups in a two-part, spring and summer session format.

o   Part 1 will bring together you (society directors) and society scholars
(early career scholars from your societies) to identify DEI projects of
mutual interest, with facilitation on how to engage in more intentional and
productive *problem setting*, the necessary and often under-appreciated
precursor to *problem-solving*.

o   Part 2, in summer, reconvenes participants from the spring sessions to
refine and expand their *problem-solving* strategies guided by cultivating
a more nuanced examination of the potential constituencies of their
proposed initiatives. It also completes the triangular network by welcoming
university interlocutors into the conversation to draw on their
institutional experience and wisdom to provide participants personalized
feedback on their next steps.

This winter, prior to the convening, Jovonne will also host a few *optional*
 listening sessions with both society leaders and scholars to get a more
nuanced understanding of the concrete concerns and challenges facing
societies mounting or hoping to mount DEI efforts. Information about the
listening session will be forthcoming in a separate message once you have
confirmed participation.

*Next steps*

Our first question is whether you are willing and able to participate this
year? You are invited to join one of two iterations of IF 2022. The spring
sessions will be held virtually over two days, while the summer sessions
will be in person, at the Newberry Library in Chicago and at Rutgers
University-Newark, respectively (provided stable public health
conditions). Each
summer session will begin with a reception on the first day and conclude
by 2 pm on the last day.

*Group 1*

*Spring – virtual:* Thursday & Friday, March 24th -25th, 11am-3pm EST

*Summer - The Newberry Library in Chicago:* Wednesday, June 8
(reception); Thursday,
June 9th, 9am-4pm CST; Friday, June 10th 9am-2pm CST

*Group 2*

*Spring – virtual:* Thursday and Friday, April 7-8th,11am -3pm EST

*Summer – Rutgers University-Newark: *Wednesday, June 15 (reception);
Thursday, June 16, 9am-4pm EST; and Friday, June 17, 9am-2pm EST

*Please let us know if you are able to attend - indicating your preference
for Group 1 or Group 2 - by November 13, 2021, *and we will begin to
finalize the participant lists. Our hope is to invite the participation
of emerging scholars in the society participants’ fields, so your
expression of interest is the key first step. Your flexibility is
appreciated!

Secondly, if you are available to participate in IF 2022, we also ask that
you please *identify 2 recent PhDs or graduate students from your
organization to serve as society scholars and send us their names and
emails either with your RSVP or by November 20, 2021. *You are best
positioned to consider early career scholars in your membership who are
positively challenging and expanding established ways of thinking and
doing, distinguishing themselves as agents of change in their home
communities or institutions. Specifically, we are looking for participants
who are well informed and passionate about the challenges facing emerging
scholars, but also have sufficient patience to sit around a table with
deans, provosts, and society directors. The goal is mutual problem-solving.
 Once we have your suggestions, ACLS will handle sending them invitations
to IF 2021.

One final note: In its envisioning and implementation, the Intention Foundry
 seeks to counter the propensity for unfair practices in academia that
perpetuate inequities, such as: demanding that members of marginalized
groups fix problems they did not create; compelling vulnerable scholars to
draw on their, often harrowing, experiences as teaching tools; requesting
that scholars of color and first gen scholars contribute uncompensated
labor. ACLS is working to avoid perpetuating existing inequities and to
ensure that society scholars’ time, expertise, and labor are duly
recognized and rewarded in a few ways:

o   First, society scholars will be provided with a $1000 honorarium
(disbursed in two parts, $500 for the spring and summer sessions,
respectively).

o   Second, we are asking society scholars to prepare one PowerPoint slide
with their dream initiative or intervention – a moonshot, you might say –
about what would make their field and/or society feel more inclusive,
supportive, and just. want to place the accent on having them share what
kind of changes or resources would tangibly alter and enhance their
experience, rather than using those experiences for our instruction. Our
spring convening will kick off with a lightning session where scholars will
offer a brief presentation (90 seconds) of their moonshot.

We and our colleagues very much look forward to working with you in IF
2022!

With best regards,

[image: A picture containing hanger Description automatically generated]
                               [image: A picture containing sport,
basketball Description automatically generated]

Joy Connolly                                                    Jovonne
Bickerstaff

President                                                          Senior
Program Officer, Higher Education Initiatives
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