Project Summaries
Application Instructions for Fall 2009:
1. Review Project Summaries below. COMPLETE Detailed Project Proposals can be found by scrolling through to the bottom of the page in the attached document. COMPLETE Project proposals can also be found in the Student-Scholar Partnership binder at the Women’s Studies Research Center (WSRC).
2. Submit two copies of complete application (application form, sheet with answers to ADDITIONAL INFORMATION questions, a writing sample and a resume) for each project for which you would like to be considered for. Writing sample can be any length or topic (relevant to project is better). The writing sample needs to show you can take a thought, put in on paper, and then discuss it clearly and intelligently. Many students have used past graded papers before.
3. You may apply for a maximum of two projects although each student may work for only one project at a time. Scholars/Faculty will contact candidates for an interview directly if they appear to be a match.
Turn applications in as soon as possible to Kristen Mullin, SSP Coordinator, at the WSRC. Early applications are encouraged as applications will be distributed and hiring decisions will be made on an on-going, rolling basis.
Note: Only sophomore, junior and senior undergraduate students are eligible to participate in this program. Students in all disciplines are welcome to apply.
For more information contact the Student-Scholar Partnership Coordinator by e-mail or in person at the Women’s Studies Research Center/Epstein Building
Mentor: Pnina Abir-Am
Project: “Gender, Collaboration, and Allocation of Credit(Recognition) in Science”
This project explores major cross-gender collaborations in science while seeking to clarify the causes for disparity in the allocation of credit to women and men collaborators. Two case studies will be examined in-depth with an eye for comparative publication.
Mentor: Mary Berg
Project: Latin American Literature Translations
Can you speak/read Spanish? Translate important Latin American literary texts forpublication!
Edit important Latin American literary texts for publication by Stockcero, a Spanish language publisher based in Buenos Aires(www.stockcero.com) that aims at the academic market (i.e. class textbooks) in the U.S. and Europe. This involves preparation of the text and footnotes, and writing an introduction and blurbs. Since students are the expected readers of these books, it is very important to have this feedback as well as editorial assistance. We will begin with a 1909 travel book, Viaje de recreo, by the Peruvian author Clorinda Matto de Turner (1852-1909) which is partly done already. The next step will involve close reading and research for a preface that describes the author and the historical contexts of the book, as well as discussing the major issues addressed by the text, and including an up-to-date bibliography. The text will be extensively annotated, which will also involve decision-making and research. It will involve several rounds of proofreading. The next in line is an Argentine 1906 novel of romance and intrigue, María Cristina Ramos Mexía’s De la sombra a la luz. And then Leopoldo Lugones’ famous science fiction stories, Las fuerzasextrañas, also published in Argentina in1906. A contemporary collection of Cuban science fiction by women is also in the lineup, as soon as the last copyright details can be resolved.
Mentor: Margaret Gullette
Project: Ageism / “Ice Floe”
Partner with a pioneer in the field of Ageism to produce a cutting-edge work that is important historically, theoretically, practically, and politically!
The Ice Floe: Ageism in Contemporary America provides evidence that ageism and middle ageism are getting worse in American culture -- in many different areas (menopause, midlife job discrimination, the attack on Social Security, the terror of forgetfulness, the duty-to-die). The Student Partner will be involved in cutting-edge work that is important historically, theoretically, practically, and politically. The Partner will be reading and editing the chapters with an eye to the keyword andthen helping with the copy-editing. Aside from working on the book, I have two other projects going on: (1) I have written a family political memoir called There is a World Elsewhere: Geography of an American Family, about becoming a Nicaraguan activist in midlife. I am looking for an agent and editor. (2) From time to time I write a blog, WIMNonline.com, and write short pieces for other outlets. I may want help doing research. Students may be asked to help with these as well.
Mentor: Rosa DiVirgilio
Project: Public Relations for the Women’s Studies Research Center
The WSRC Communications Student-Scholar Partnership will involve marketing and public relations for two WSRC programs: the Arts Program and the Scholars Program. TheArts Program at the WSRC is home to the Kniznick Gallery, the only exhibition space in New England devoted to the display of women's art and/or art about gender. Specifically, the student will focus on online and published calendar listings, as well as other marketing and PR projects. This partnership will be mutually beneficial, as the student will learn about marketing and promoting events and gain valuable professional experience. The WSRC will benefit greatly from the listings’ visibility, which will increase event attendance, thereby furthering the Center’s outreach.
Mentor: Mary Mason
Project: “Taking Care: Lessons from Mothers With Disabilities”
Currently I am in the last phase of my project, which grew out of my last book, Working Against Odds: Stories of Disabled Women’s WorkLives. I have researched the literature on disabled motherhood, finished my interviewing, given two papers about the subject, written an essay about parenting and mothers with disabilities and produced (in collaboration with Nurit Eini-Pindyck) a video “Taking Care; A Disabled Mother’s Dialogue with her Daughter” now showing on YouTube. I am now at the point of making this project become a book and will be sending out my Introduction and two chapters to publishers this fall. A student partner interested in this project hopefully should be interested in the subject of women and mothers with disabilities and the challenges they face in our society. An additional learning experience is about the process of turning a research project into a book.
Mentor: Rhoda Unger
Project: “Rear-End Analysis: Using Citation Data to Trace Changes in Psychology of Women Textbooks Over 35 Years”
How have the fields of Psychology of women and Genderchanged in the last 35 years? Perform “back-end analysis” using past textbooks to see how far womenhave come!
The journal Sex Roles will be 35 years old in 2010. To celebrate this anniversary, the editors have invited a number of textbook authors to consider how the field of the psychology of women and gender has changed during these years. It is difficult to be objective about texts that were written at different times, under different circumstances, for different audiences, and for different publishers. Therefore, I proposed to the editors of the journal that I use a method that I had used previously to trace the development of the psychology of women and gender through one author’s perspective. This method is called “rear-end analysis” and counts the number of pages allotted to the workof particular individuals in the author index at the end of each textbook(Perlman, 1979). This project requires the student partner to analyze the author indices of four textbooks and answer questions based on results. The student partner will learn about the content of the field of the psychology of women and gender from an historical perspective. Specifically, the knowledge will be helpful if she/he takes courses in this area and, more generally, acquaints her/him with an historical lens through which the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge can be viewed. This is an area in which I am deeply interested and I believe it is helpful to students in most disciplines.
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COMPLETE Project Proposals can be viewed by clicking HERE.
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