Women’s and Gender Equity Centers Volume
Call for Chapter Proposals

It’s been nearly 15 years since Sharon Davie published the landmark volume University and College Women’s Centers: A Journey toward Equity (2002), and although the body of literature about women’s centers has grown, Davie’s remains one of the only books about women’s and gender equity centers in U.S. higher education. In the ensuing years since University and College Women’s Centers, how has the work of women’s centers shifted and expanded to include new ways of thinking, being and doing? Where do gaps still exist and what is on the horizon? The proposed volume picks up where Davie left off, and examines the new institutional contexts surrounding women’s centers, the possibilities and the challenges to advocating for gender equity in higher education, and the ways in which women’s centers contribute to and lead that work.

Organization of the Volume

The first section examines the landscape of women’s centers in higher education and explores the structures within which centers live. Who do women’s centers serve, and how? What reporting structures do centers belong to, and what resources are available to them? How have social and political forces shaped contemporary centers? Have they shifted to center the experiences or marginalized and underrepresented voices, including those of women of color and American Indian women? Lastly, this section explores the ways in which many women’s centers have expanded their work to include working with athletics, Greek life, men, transgender students, international students, student parents, veterans, etc.

The second section delves into the profession of women’s center work itself, and asks how has women’s center work become “professionalized?” What does it mean to require a Ph.D. for some center director positions? Is there a value conflict in this? What are the implications of “credentialization” for access and succession? What competencies and credentials do women’s center staff truly need in order to be effective? Is it still important to be/label oneself a feminist in order to work in a women’s center? How does intersectionality trouble the notion of “feminist” identity as a requirement for women’s center work?

The third section addresses some of the threats and challenges to women’s and gender equity centers. As centers have expanded their work to include many populations, how has resource allocation aligned with that expansion? And how does that expansion help and complicate the possibility of collaboration with other offices/departments that share a social justice agenda? How have centers engaged in cultural and climate change in the face of institutional resistance? Lastly, how has contemporary legislation and policy shifted the work of women’s centers, particularly around sexual assault and intimate partner violence education and prevention?

The fourth and final section highlights current successes and forward-thinking approaches in women’s centers. How are centers being nimble in the face of changing landscapes and shifting priorities? What creative solutions have women’s centers been able to employ? What programs could serve as exemplars for other centers to adapt to their contexts and communities? How have partnerships with not-just-the-usual suspects helped centers to transform, thrive and evolve? How are women’s centers looking toward and preparing for the future?

Editors

Brenda Bethman – bethmanb@umkc.edu

Anitra Cottledge – cottlead@umn.edu

Donna Bickford – bickford@dickinson.edu

Below are directions to submit a chapter proposal for consideration:

Send a brief (1-2) page single-spaced typed document, and include all of the editors in the email. In the proposal identify: a) the potential author names, institutional affiliations, and e-mails, b) which of the four sections you see your work fitting, and c) an abstract of the chapter (300-400 words in length) outlining your proposed contribution, your connection to critical theory where appropriate, and the organization of the chapter.

This volume hopes to balance:

• Institutional context (women’s/gender equity center at a public or private institution of higher education: technical college, community college, 4-year college/university, graduate program etc.);
• Explorations and examinations grounded in theory and practice;
• Roles of authors, e.g., center directors/assistant directors, program coordinators, violence prevention educators, graduate assistants, student staff, etc.); and
• Identities of authors, e.g. racial/ethnic, ability, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigrant or undocumented status, etc.

Please submit your proposal by 11:59 p.m., January 31, 2017. Authors will be notified of their acceptance by February 14, 2017.