[Vwoolf] Graduate students and Woolf conference

Sun Oct 26 12:01:59 EDT 2014

This is such an interesting thread for this "common reader."

I joined this listserv to elevate my online list experience, and the topics
and discussions have not disappointed. My interest is the Bloomsbury Group,
the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in particular. But Woolf
beguiles, and I am now reading Nigel Nicolson's second volume of her
letters.

I have a question and and an observation: I am fascinated with Asham, and
there seems scant information about it. There's Carol Hansen's "The Life
and Death of Asham," but I haven't found a copy. Yet. Is other information
out there regarding this magical house? As for my observation, I would
think Woolf would want both graduate and undergraduate students involved in
the conference. Wouldn't she be considered a "common reader"?

Pat Kane-Prescott

On Sat, Oct 25, 2014 at 3:03 PM, jeannette smyth <
jeannette_smyth at earthlink.net> wrote:

> As an undergraduate who occasionally produced a "publishable" paper, and
> much later as an independent scholar who competed with PhDs to present
> papers at international conferences of genocide scholars and succeeded, I
> have to endorse the idea of letting the undergrads and graduate students
> compete with the scholars. You'd get some fabulous papers. And for those
> like me who pay their own way to conferences, they would get their
> hard-earned money's worth of primo new scholarship. I would be furious to
> travel to Ireland (as I did last time) to hear work inferior to my own.
> (Not that PhDs. always produce the best work. For real.)
>
> Jeannette Smyth
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Vandivere, Julie"
> Sent: Oct 24, 2014 10:01 AM
> To: Diana Swanson
> Cc: "vwoolf at lists.osu.edu"
> Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Graduate students and Woolf conference
>
>      I can't tell you how helpful this has been.  In a few days I'll
> update info on the website. I let you all know when I do to see if I was
> able to articulate your thoughts.  The discussion also gives me some
> perspective as I talk to people at MSA. I'm hoping to see scholars who work
> on some of the other modernist women writers, and they are not as familiar
> with the inclusiveness of the conference (as I was not). As I reach out to
> them, I want to make sure I understand both the traditions and parameters
> of the Woolf community and conference.
>
>  For example (and here is my second question that I was going to save for
> next week, but what the heck).  Women writers before the 20th-century have
> enjoyed a real resurgence because of the work of the British Women Writers
> Association.  We don't have a parallel organization in the 20th-century,
> and the BWWA is not interested in extending very far into the 20th-century.
>
>  I would like to have this next conference both stress Woolf in ways that
> are consistent with the mission of the organization and conference and also
> open up the possibility of discussions about how to create dialogue and
> space for other women writers.
>
>  I'd be interested in input about what you all think of how I might find
> the right balance.
>
>  Julie
>
>
>
> Julie Vandivere, Ph.D.
> Professor of English
> 119 Bakeless
> Bloomsburg University
> Bloomsburg, PA 17815
>
> jvandive at bloomu.edu
>
>
>
>
>  On Oct 23, 2014, at 6:50 PM, Diana Swanson <dswanson at niu.edu>
>  wrote:
>
>   I agree that it works to treat graduate students' submissions in the
> same way as faculty members' and common readers' submissions. One thing
> that Pamela Caughie and I did do for the 2014 Chicago conference
> (submissions were reviewed anonymously by the conference committee, by the
> way, so the reviewers couldn't tell which proposals were by whom) was to
> double check that we had a good mix of faculty, independent scholar, common
> reader, and student presenters before acceptances and rejections were sent
> out. We found that we really didn't have to make many adjustments, if any,
> to the conference committee's rankings in order to get that mix which is so
> important to the Woolf conference.
>
> I agree with Madelyn that it's a good idea to have a few separate sessions
> for undergraduates if you have a lot of them presenting or if the
> conference is linked to an undergrad course in which preparing and
> presenting a paper or a roundtable is required.
>  An approach that worked well for me was to teach a graduate seminar on
> Woolf the fall before the conference and to make writing a conference
> proposal and a conference length version of the research paper part of the
> requirements for the course. That way my students had conference proposals
> and papers prepared prior to the Woolf conference submission deadline. I'm
> proud to say that all my seminar students' papers were accepted through
> the anonymous review process--go NIU English grad students! :)
>
> all the best,
> Diana
>
>
>  Diana L. Swanson, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor of Women's Studies & English
> Faculty Associate of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Studies
> Faculty Associate of Institute for the Study of the Environment,
> Sustainability, and Energy
> Northern Illinois University
>  DeKalb, IL 60115
> 815-753-6611
> dswanson at niu.edu
> >>> "Detloff, Madelyn" <detlofmm at miamioh.edu> 10/23/2014 11:26 AM >>>
>  Some of the best papers I have seen at the Woolf Conference have been by
> graduate students, so I would agree to treat graduate submissions exactly
> as faculty and common reader submissions. I have also seen some awesome
> papers by undergraduates, but I agree that having a separate panel or two
> for them can make the process less intimidating.
>
>  Diana Royer and I had a graduate class linked to the 17th annual
> conference and the class + conference experience was a big success. Some of
> the class participants are on this listserv, so they can correct me if I am
> misrepresenting their experience.
>
>  best,
>
>  Madelyn
>
> On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 10:56 AM, ANNE Fernald [Staff/Faculty [A&S]] <
> fernald at fordham.edu> wrote:
>
>> It's an exceptional undergrad who can acquit her/himself well on a panel.
>> I think that's fine and, in fact, terrific: if s/he wants to apply in the
>> rank-blind CFP and gets in, all the better. However, a special panel or
>> stream for undergrads gives them a chance to taste the conference w/o too
>> much intimidation.
>>
>>  As for grad students, I think they should be treated like every other
>> professional.
>>
>>  I would add that in the 2009 conference, I tried to create a couple
>> other opportunities for grad students linked to the conference: a special
>> course that led into the conference, and I worked with grad students not
>> only at Fordham but in the area, who attended at a reduced rate in exchange
>> for helping work the tables, chair a session, escort a plenarist, etc. I
>> think this helping/organizing work was, in some cases, more valuable
>> professionalization than the paper alone--and in fact, several of the
>> people who helped me there have gone on to great things.
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 23, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Barbara Green <bgreen at nd.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> > Dear Julie,
>>>
>>> Liz Evans and I are organizing our graduate class this term so that we
>>> can help our students develop conference papers. At least one member
>>> of our group intends to submit an abstract to the 2015 Woolf
>>> conference. We'd be delighted if our student has a chance to
>>> experience the Woolf conference, since the community is so
>>> consistently generous toward graduate students. It would be an
>>> excellent place for her to grow.
>>>
>>> Thank you, Julie, for giving us a chance to consider this important
>>> professionalization question.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Barbara
>>>
>>> Barbara Green
>>> Department of English
>>> University of Notre Dame
>>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>> > I would like the input of the Woolf community on a few things about
>>> the Woolf conference. The website and structure of the conference is
>>> beginning to come together, and I've purposely left a few things blank
>>> because I don't know how to proceed.
>>> >
>>> > Take a look at
>>> >
>>> > woolf.bloomu.edu
>>> >
>>> > You'll notice I have a separate section for high school and
>>> undergraduates. I took the organizational handbook at its word and used the
>>> conference as an opportunity to pull university and community together. The
>>> deans put in money for this because they (and I) want to make a statement
>>> about the importance of the humanities at our institution and in the
>>> community.
>>> >
>>> > The high school students, community members, and undergraduates will
>>> attend events like the theater performance, art opening, and plenaries, but
>>> will have sessions and discussion groups in a separate building from the
>>> academic conference on Saturday afternoon.
>>> >
>>> > The piece I can't figure out is graduate students. Do you feel the
>>> conference would be weakened or strengthened if I made a push for faculty
>>> to encourage and bring their graduate students? As I see it, the only
>>> disadvantage would be that the papers might not be the quality we want
>>> (some conferences have been taken over by graduate students).
>>> >
>>> > However, there are tremendous advantages. As I talk to faculty about
>>> conferences, many of them are under pressure to professionalize their
>>> graduate students and would like to include them. From listening to people,
>>> I believe we wold attract more professors if we let people know they could
>>> also bring their graduate students and have them present. But I don't want
>>> to put them in a separate session or area (as the undergraduates are).
>>> >
>>> > How do you think I should handle this?
>>> >
>>> > Thanks (I have another question), but I'll save that one for next
>>> week).
>>> >
>>> > Julie
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Julie Vandivere, Ph.D.
>>> > Professor of English
>>> > 119 Bakeless
>>> > Bloomsburg University
>>> > Bloomsburg, PA 17815
>>> >
>>> > jvandive at bloomu.edu
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
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>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
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>>
>>
>>
>>   --
>> Anne E. Fernald
>> <http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/english/faculty/english_faculty/anne_fernald_28537.asp>
>> Director of Writing/Composition at Lincoln Center,
>> Associate Professor of English
>> <http://www.fordham.edu/academics/programs_at_fordham_/english/index.asp>
>> and Women's Studies <http://www.fordham.edu/womens_studies>
>> Fordham University
>> 113 W 60th St.
>> New York NY 10023
>>
>> 212/636-7613
>> fernald at fordham.edu
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>  --
> Madelyn Detloff
> Director of Graduate Studies, English Department
> Associate Professor of English and WGS
> Miami University
> Oxford, OH 45056
> (513) 529-1395
>
>  Please note that Miami has changed its domain name to miamioh.edu. My
> new email address is detlofmm at miamioh.edu.
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