Submitted on behalf of Asma Barlas, professor and program director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity.
Dear Colleagues:
I am writing to extend two invitations. First, please join Sean Eversley-Bradwell, Alan Gomez, Winsome Wade-Compton, and myself on September 22 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. for an open house at the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity (CHS 101). (If you'll be teaching then, feel free to drop by any time from 10:00 a.m. onwards to see where we are located and to meet us.)
Second, I am in the process of reconstituting the Steering Committee of the Center and am writing to ask those of you who teach about (or work on) issues of race /ethnicity to consider serving on it for a three-year term. The Committee functions in both a policy-making and an advisory capacity and works with the director to establish the Center's programs and priorities.
So that you know something of my own priorities, these are to develop minors in African New World Studies and Latino/a Studies, help mentor and assess the Center's faculty for tenure, and revive the yearly Discussion Series (this year we are hosting Global Fury/Global Fear: Engaging Muslims, starting September 19).
I envisage a Steering Committee of about 15-20 members that will meet once or, at most, twice a semester, and from which we will form five standing committees (described below). (If more than 15-20
people are interested in working with the Center, we can set up a 'Friends of the Center' committee.) Most of our work will take place in these smaller committees and is likely to be uneven in terms of scope and time commitment depending on the tasks of the committee.
Tenure and Promotion Committees
There will be two T&P Committees for reviewing the work of the Center's two new faculty, Sean Eversley-Bradwell and Alan Gomez (there will be a second year review, a fourth year review, and a tenure review). It would help for the same people to be involved in this process until its completion and so I would like to ask members of this committee to serve longer than three years.
Sean's dissertation is on education, critical race theory, and African-America. Alan is a historian of borderlands whose dissertation focuses on multiracial and international struggles of Chicano/a and Third
World peoples. We need tenured faculty who have some disciplinary background in these broad areas.
Curriculum Committee
In addition to Alan, Sean, and myself, we want two or three other colleagues to help us build up the Center's curriculum. Since we will be working to develop minors in African New World Studies and
Latino/a Studies, it would help to have someone who is knowledgeable of/ interested in these areas.
Discussion Series
One of the CSCRE's mandates is to organize a year-long discussion series that we begin to put together the year before we host it. The 2006-07 series is done, but we have still to plan the 2007-08 series on
prisons and people of color. The committee is responsible for programming (inviting speakers, selecting IC faculty respondents, offering a rationale for the series, etc.). If you've taught in a prison or are interested in this topic, please consider serving on this committee.
Journal/Publications Committee
The 'IC Journal of Race, Culture, Gender, and Ethnicity' is a student-run publication based in the CSCRE and we need faculty advisors who are willing to provide some intellectual oversight and to work with the editor/s to produce a high quality and engaging journal.
Local Outreach
One of CSCRE's goals is to maintain connections with local community residents / activists around issues of shared interest. So, if you are currently involved in community outreach or would like to be, please consider joining this committee. I should clarify that its goal is not to take credit for what you do, but, to provide impetus and support for collaborative work.
I look forward to hearing from you and, if we don't know one another, please be sure to tell me a bit about yourself and your interest in working with the CSCRE.
Best,
Asma Barlas
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20060822094907690