LGBTQ 101 with Safe Space!
Thanks to everyone who showed up!
We had a great training session, and those of us who are interested in completing our "offical" ally training are looking forward to the longer session coming up in October.
For all those who are interested, the session included different activities that allowed us as participants to think about the different conceptions and stereotypes that we have about the LGBTQ community. We also got the chance to learn about different LGBTQ terms that we might not have known before, as well as how to be better allies to our LGBTQ students.
If you are interested in attending a training, I posted Safe Space's description and contact information below.
SAFE SPACE
Purpose:
Safe Space is a gay / straight alliance dedicated to promoting awareness and understanding about sexual orientation by providing education and training to the university community and staying informed of political developments to create better Safe Space providers.
Functions:
We give monthly trainings designed to educate people about issues within the community. Our trainings focus on evaluating stereotypes and looking at heterosexism and homophobia in society, and our primary goal is to create allies supportive of the glbt community.
E-mail:
info@UTsafespace.com
Web Address (URL):
http://www.UTsafespace.com
Friday, September 29, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
FEMINIST SOLIDARITY POTLUCK – 9/22/2006
- Overview of Fall 2006 activities
o LGBTQ 101: Awareness training provided by Safe Space for English and Comp Lit grad students; 9/29 at 3pm in PAR 204. For more information, please contact Erin Hurt (erinhurt@mail.utexas.edu)
o Feminism in Academic Disciplines: A roundtable discussion by and for grad students about the ways in which feminism makes its appearance in academic disciplines that are not traditionally identified as feminist fields of study (e.g. medieval studies). For more information, please contact Layne Craig (laynecraig@mail.utexas.edu) or Kate Beutner (katharine.b@gmail.com).
o Family Matters: Tentatively planned for November 10. A panel of grad students and faculty will discuss how they manage children/family with work. Issues include, but are not limited to choosing to take time off, how to balance stress with workload, and the practical advice for pregnancy and childcare. Please contact Lydia Wilmeth (lwilmeth@mail.utexas.edu) or Erin Hurt (erinhurt@mail.utexas.edu).
o A Day in the Life: Graduate students will describe a typical day in their life, from when they wake up to when they go to sleep. A collection of these will be posted on the Feminist Solidarity blog (http://feministsolidarityblog.blogspot.com/).
o Guide for New Students: Throughout the semester, FS members are encouraged to post tips for (new) grads on the FS blog, with the hopes of putting together a pamphlet of tips about the things that you are never told as a new student.
- Spring 2006 activities
o Mentor panel: Faculty will discuss their experiences both as mentors to students and other faculty as well as their own experiences of being mentored.
o Female faculty panel?
- Brainstorming ideas for 2006-2007 school year?
o Definitions of Feminisms panel?
- Discussion about using the various resources, communities, and groups that are already established on campus (such as Gender and Sexuality center, New Works Program, Center for Women and Gender Studies)
o It was suggested that that instead of starting from scratch in terms of creating feminist community and activism, the FSG should instead become aware of groups outside of the department and build on activities that are already established.
- Discussion of possible future activities:
o Discussion of marginalization and/or hostility in the graduate classroom
o Coping mechanisms for instructors with problem students
- Other upcoming events:
o Announcement of the formation of a support group for Women of Color
o October is LGBTQ Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Domestic Violence Awareness month
- Meeting ended with announcements of various sign-up sheets:
o Sign up for emails from the group
o Sign up to be a part of the planning committee
o Sign up to be a part of the Day in the Life project
o Sign up if you are interested in actively blogging on the FSG blog
o Email UTfeministsolidarity@gmail.com if you want to be involved in any of these things but didn’t get a chance to sign up at the meeting.
FEMINIST SOLIDARITY GROUP INFORMATION
- Listserv: feministsolidarity
o Subscribe yourself to the list: Send the request
subscribe LISTNAME
in the body of a message to the address majordomo@lists.cc.utexas.edu Email account: utfeministsolidarity@gmail.com
- Blog: http://feministsolidarityblog.blogspot.com/
Email a blog administrator or the listserv to get the password to post on the blog.
- Overview of Fall 2006 activities
o LGBTQ 101: Awareness training provided by Safe Space for English and Comp Lit grad students; 9/29 at 3pm in PAR 204. For more information, please contact Erin Hurt (erinhurt@mail.utexas.edu)
o Feminism in Academic Disciplines: A roundtable discussion by and for grad students about the ways in which feminism makes its appearance in academic disciplines that are not traditionally identified as feminist fields of study (e.g. medieval studies). For more information, please contact Layne Craig (laynecraig@mail.utexas.edu) or Kate Beutner (katharine.b@gmail.com).
o Family Matters: Tentatively planned for November 10. A panel of grad students and faculty will discuss how they manage children/family with work. Issues include, but are not limited to choosing to take time off, how to balance stress with workload, and the practical advice for pregnancy and childcare. Please contact Lydia Wilmeth (lwilmeth@mail.utexas.edu) or Erin Hurt (erinhurt@mail.utexas.edu).
o A Day in the Life: Graduate students will describe a typical day in their life, from when they wake up to when they go to sleep. A collection of these will be posted on the Feminist Solidarity blog (http://feministsolidarityblog.blogspot.com/).
o Guide for New Students: Throughout the semester, FS members are encouraged to post tips for (new) grads on the FS blog, with the hopes of putting together a pamphlet of tips about the things that you are never told as a new student.
- Spring 2006 activities
o Mentor panel: Faculty will discuss their experiences both as mentors to students and other faculty as well as their own experiences of being mentored.
o Female faculty panel?
- Brainstorming ideas for 2006-2007 school year?
o Definitions of Feminisms panel?
- Discussion about using the various resources, communities, and groups that are already established on campus (such as Gender and Sexuality center, New Works Program, Center for Women and Gender Studies)
o It was suggested that that instead of starting from scratch in terms of creating feminist community and activism, the FSG should instead become aware of groups outside of the department and build on activities that are already established.
- Discussion of possible future activities:
o Discussion of marginalization and/or hostility in the graduate classroom
o Coping mechanisms for instructors with problem students
- Other upcoming events:
o Announcement of the formation of a support group for Women of Color
o October is LGBTQ Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Domestic Violence Awareness month
- Meeting ended with announcements of various sign-up sheets:
o Sign up for emails from the group
o Sign up to be a part of the planning committee
o Sign up to be a part of the Day in the Life project
o Sign up if you are interested in actively blogging on the FSG blog
o Email UTfeministsolidarity@gmail.com if you want to be involved in any of these things but didn’t get a chance to sign up at the meeting.
FEMINIST SOLIDARITY GROUP INFORMATION
- Listserv: feministsolidarity
o Subscribe yourself to the list: Send the request
subscribe LISTNAME
in the body of a message to the address majordomo@lists.cc.utexas.edu Email account: utfeministsolidarity@gmail.com
- Blog: http://feministsolidarityblog.blogspot.com/
Email a blog administrator or the listserv to get the password to post on the blog.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Planning Meeting Notes
On Friday, Sept. 8th, the newly formed Feminist Solidarity Group Planning Committee met to discuss possible activities for the 2006-2007 school year. The following is a brief summary of the ideas we as a committee were most interested in for this year. Members are already working on putting these events together, so look out for us to contact you to help and/or attend. Definitely comment here or get in touch with a Planning Committee member if you'd like to be involved with planning one of these events. We'll announce upcoming events in more detail at the potluck Sept. 22nd and as they get closer.
Planning committee, if I've forgotten anything, please leave it in the comments here!
For the Fall 2006 Semester:
Diversity and Sensitivity Workshop from the Gender and Sexuality Center:
We are working on scheduling a Diversity and Sensitivity Training Workshop for the English/Comp Lit Departments through the GSC and Safe Space. Here is a link that gives more information about this GSC service for UT students, faculty, and staff who want to find out more about being allies to LGBTQ students and community members. This will take place at the end of September, and we'll be working to get the word out about it to as many people as possible.
Panel on Feminism in Our Disciplines:
This is one of the earliest ideas we talked about when we formed this group. We'd like to get a group of graduate students together to talk about their experiences talking about feminism and sexuality issues in different disciplines in the English and Comp Lit departments. We're looking for volunteers to speak from the perspective of students and instructors in as many areas of study as we can. This event will be held in October.
Panel for Parents, Expecting Parents, and Potential Future Parents:
The number of parents in our department is growing! This panel will feature grad student and possibly faculty speakers discussing their experiences and challenges as parents and expecting parents in academia. They will also answer questions from students who are considering having children in grad school and will discuss the parent/non-parent divide among academics (I made that last part up, but I hope they'll do all that!). This event will be held in November.
For the Spring 2007 semester:
Panel on mentoring:
Our new mentor program generated a lot of enthusiasm in the department. This panel will give mentors and mentees a chance to discuss their experiences, and will feature faculty and advanced graduate student speakers addressing the benefits of mentoring and being mentored throughout their academic careers.
Female Faculty Symposium:
We'd like to ask female members of our faculty to come and talk to us about their experiences with feminism, sexism, family challenges, male colleagues, and all those career issues that we as feminists worry about but don't usually get to discuss in an academic setting. If you have a faculty member you'd particularly like to have speak, or who you think would be interested in talking about her career with us, please let her and us know.
Grad Student Round Table on Having a Social Life in Graduate School:
Continuing our series on things we don't usually talk about at school, the Planning Committee would like to gauge you guys' interest in a grad-students-only round table about dating, relationships, and the social struggles of being in a PhD program.
On the Blog:
We had several ideas for soliciting blog entries that are a little more content-focused that meeting announcements and minutes. First, we'd like to work this year on a comprehensive set of tips for incoming students, covering some of the details of financial aid, our insurance, department administration, and other things that we wish we'd known earlier! Kate is setting up blog entries for this project already, so please contribute your tips here, and we'll compile them next summer to give to incoming students next fally.
We also have some ideas for sharing our lives as grad students with each other on the blog, just doing some writing about our schedules and the ways we study and work. We'll be asking you guys to volunteer to write these entries, and we'll talk more about the project at the pot luck.
Finally, we will also talk at the potluck about whether we should go through the process of becoming an official student group, and the implications (particularly the financial implications) of that decision for us.
On Friday, Sept. 8th, the newly formed Feminist Solidarity Group Planning Committee met to discuss possible activities for the 2006-2007 school year. The following is a brief summary of the ideas we as a committee were most interested in for this year. Members are already working on putting these events together, so look out for us to contact you to help and/or attend. Definitely comment here or get in touch with a Planning Committee member if you'd like to be involved with planning one of these events. We'll announce upcoming events in more detail at the potluck Sept. 22nd and as they get closer.
Planning committee, if I've forgotten anything, please leave it in the comments here!
For the Fall 2006 Semester:
Diversity and Sensitivity Workshop from the Gender and Sexuality Center:
We are working on scheduling a Diversity and Sensitivity Training Workshop for the English/Comp Lit Departments through the GSC and Safe Space. Here is a link that gives more information about this GSC service for UT students, faculty, and staff who want to find out more about being allies to LGBTQ students and community members. This will take place at the end of September, and we'll be working to get the word out about it to as many people as possible.
Panel on Feminism in Our Disciplines:
This is one of the earliest ideas we talked about when we formed this group. We'd like to get a group of graduate students together to talk about their experiences talking about feminism and sexuality issues in different disciplines in the English and Comp Lit departments. We're looking for volunteers to speak from the perspective of students and instructors in as many areas of study as we can. This event will be held in October.
Panel for Parents, Expecting Parents, and Potential Future Parents:
The number of parents in our department is growing! This panel will feature grad student and possibly faculty speakers discussing their experiences and challenges as parents and expecting parents in academia. They will also answer questions from students who are considering having children in grad school and will discuss the parent/non-parent divide among academics (I made that last part up, but I hope they'll do all that!). This event will be held in November.
For the Spring 2007 semester:
Panel on mentoring:
Our new mentor program generated a lot of enthusiasm in the department. This panel will give mentors and mentees a chance to discuss their experiences, and will feature faculty and advanced graduate student speakers addressing the benefits of mentoring and being mentored throughout their academic careers.
Female Faculty Symposium:
We'd like to ask female members of our faculty to come and talk to us about their experiences with feminism, sexism, family challenges, male colleagues, and all those career issues that we as feminists worry about but don't usually get to discuss in an academic setting. If you have a faculty member you'd particularly like to have speak, or who you think would be interested in talking about her career with us, please let her and us know.
Grad Student Round Table on Having a Social Life in Graduate School:
Continuing our series on things we don't usually talk about at school, the Planning Committee would like to gauge you guys' interest in a grad-students-only round table about dating, relationships, and the social struggles of being in a PhD program.
On the Blog:
We had several ideas for soliciting blog entries that are a little more content-focused that meeting announcements and minutes. First, we'd like to work this year on a comprehensive set of tips for incoming students, covering some of the details of financial aid, our insurance, department administration, and other things that we wish we'd known earlier! Kate is setting up blog entries for this project already, so please contribute your tips here, and we'll compile them next summer to give to incoming students next fally.
We also have some ideas for sharing our lives as grad students with each other on the blog, just doing some writing about our schedules and the ways we study and work. We'll be asking you guys to volunteer to write these entries, and we'll talk more about the project at the pot luck.
Finally, we will also talk at the potluck about whether we should go through the process of becoming an official student group, and the implications (particularly the financial implications) of that decision for us.
Friday, September 08, 2006
Upcoming Event of Interest:
The Gender Symposium presents a panel discussion
"The Ivory Tower Meets the Real World:
Negotiating Gender and Sexuality in the Classroom"
September 15, 2006
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Burdine 436A
Featuring the following distinguished UT-Austin Faculty:
Erika Bsumek, Assistant Professor of History
Ann Cvetkovich, Professor of English
Neville Hoad, Assistant Professor of English
Each panel member will discuss how they broach the topics of gender and sexuality in their teaching and share challenges they have faced with students in the classroom related to issues of gender or sexuality.
After the panel of faculty share their thought-provoking comments and ideas, the room will be opened up for questions and comments. Audience members are encouraged to come ready to participate in a lively discussion.
If you have questions or are interested in presenting your work in a relaxed and collegial atmosphere, please contact the Gender Symposium Committee at gender@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
You may also find information about us at our website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/history/gender/
The Gender Symposium presents a panel discussion
"The Ivory Tower Meets the Real World:
Negotiating Gender and Sexuality in the Classroom"
September 15, 2006
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Burdine 436A
Featuring the following distinguished UT-Austin Faculty:
Erika Bsumek, Assistant Professor of History
Ann Cvetkovich, Professor of English
Neville Hoad, Assistant Professor of English
Each panel member will discuss how they broach the topics of gender and sexuality in their teaching and share challenges they have faced with students in the classroom related to issues of gender or sexuality.
After the panel of faculty share their thought-provoking comments and ideas, the room will be opened up for questions and comments. Audience members are encouraged to come ready to participate in a lively discussion.
If you have questions or are interested in presenting your work in a relaxed and collegial atmosphere, please contact the Gender Symposium Committee at gender@uts.cc.utexas.edu.
You may also find information about us at our website: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/history/gender/
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Planning Meeting September 8th
This Friday, September 8, the Feminist Solidarity Group will have a planning meeting at the Cactus Cafe at 2:00p.m. If you have ideas for this semester or you'd like to be involved in putting some ideas into action, please join us. We hope to have a much more active semester this fall, and it would be great to have as many people's input as possible.
If you have an idea for a panel or a get-together or an issue you'd like to see the group address, but you can't come to the meeting, please leave it here in the comments, and we'll put in on the table on Friday. The planning committee would appreciate everyone's input.
This Friday, September 8, the Feminist Solidarity Group will have a planning meeting at the Cactus Cafe at 2:00p.m. If you have ideas for this semester or you'd like to be involved in putting some ideas into action, please join us. We hope to have a much more active semester this fall, and it would be great to have as many people's input as possible.
If you have an idea for a panel or a get-together or an issue you'd like to see the group address, but you can't come to the meeting, please leave it here in the comments, and we'll put in on the table on Friday. The planning committee would appreciate everyone's input.
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