Call for GSR Applications: 2020 Thinking Gender Coordinator

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Deadline Extended! Apply by June 21, 2019

The Center for the Study of Women (CSW) is accepting applications for the 2020 Thinking Gender Conference Coordinator. This 25% Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) position offers a rare opportunity to plan and facilitate an internationally recognized graduate student research conference.

All applications must be submitted using the online application form.

Thinking Gender is an annual public conference that draws scholars from across disciplines – humanities, social sciences, life sciences, arts, law, education, public health, and public policy – to share research on women, sexuality, and gender. Thinking Gender 2020 will be the 30th year of the conference. To find information on past Thinking Gender conferences, please visit https://csw.ucla.edu/event/thinking-gender.

THINKING GENDER 2020 CONFERENCE THEME: SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND INTERSECTIONALITY

The 2020 Thinking Gender Conference will address intersectional, anti-carceral, and transnational responses against sexual violence. Much of the recent public conversation around remedying sexual violence has been caught in legalistic, punitive, or criminal justice discourses that centers the punishment of individual actors. We ask instead: what questions, analytics, and strategies emerge if we think of sexual violence as a function of empire, militarism, the afterlife of slavery, dispossession, incarceration, detention and deportation, and labor exploitation, among other forms of state and capitalist violence, rather than only caused by the actions of a particular individual that can be corrected through punishment? What histories of feminist, Indigenous, queer, anti-racist, and anti-colonial organizing against sexual violence can we excavate as durable traditions for the challenges of our times? What capacious understandings of harm and alternative definitions of justice, repair, and remedy might emerge out of such frameworks?

While we are particularly interested in applications from candidates with strong research and/or activist interests related to this theme, we invite all UCLA Graduate Students with an interest in intersectional feminism to apply.

The selected applicant will have the opportunity to collaborate with CSW Faculty Member Grace Hong in refining this conference theme and developing a program that makes a significant contribution to sexual violence and intersectionality research.

ELIGIBILITY AND COMPENSATION

The Conference will take place in Winter 2020. This position provides a 25% Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) appointment with a monthly salary during Summer 2019, Fall 2019, and Winter 2020. During the academic year, fee remissions will be included. There is a possibility for an additional GSR appointment during Spring 2020, depending on remaining work and needs of the Center.

The GSR must be registered as a full-time student (enrolled in a minimum of 12 units) during the academic year and maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 throughout the duration of the appointment.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the supervision of the CSW Associate Director and Management Services Officer and in collaboration with the CSW Program and Research Developer, the Conference Coordinator will:

  • Plan and oversee an international, interdisciplinary conference
    • Develop and implement plans that will aid the conference goal of serving graduate students and contributing to feminist research
  • Head the conference selection and program committee
    • Curate conference panels and presentations
    • Review and critique submissions
    • Lead and prepare agendas for conference planning meetings
    • Write and prepare conference documents, including but not limited to calls for submissions, publicity materials, manuals, etc.
  • Build and engage with a network of prominent scholars and administrators to create an interdisciplinary program
    • Develop cross-campus fundraising strategies and hone academic development skills
    • Interact with high-level university administrators
    • Spearhead outreach initiatives

 QUALIFICATIONS

  • Registered UCLA graduate student in 2019-2020 academic year
  • Experience organizing or participating in research conferences
  • Demonstrated ability to lead networking, fundraising, and outreach initiatives
  • Demonstrated ability to work as part of a team and to collaborate during meetings and discussions
  • Strong organizational skills, including:
    • Demonstrated ability to set and meet deadlines and priorities
    • Ability to organize and present information effectively and concisely
    • Ability to set and maintain a reliable work schedule
  • Research interests related to the conference theme and compatible with CSW’s core research on women, sexuality, and gender. We encourage students in any discipline to apply.

APPLICATION MATERIALS

The following materials are required when submitting your application through the online application system:

  • Cover Letter, outlining how your research interests relate to the conference theme, and what sessions you would incorporate (keynote speakers, workshops, etc.) that would both support the theme and serve the professional and research development needs of graduate students (1 page maximum)
  • CV/Resume that outlines your skills and experience
  • Unofficial UCLA Transcript (with most recent coursework and grades)
  • List of References: Provide at least two references (name, title, contact information, relation to applicant), one of whom must be a UCLA faculty member. We advise that references be able to comment on your research aptitude (particularly as it relates to the theme), organizational skills, and capacity to oversee the production of a conference.

If selected for an interview, please be prepared to suggest and discuss possible sessions related to the theme, speakers, outreach and fundraising strategies, and formats for the conference.

SUBMISSION DETAILS AND DEADLINE

Please submit your application via the online application form.

New Application Deadline: June 21, 2019

Questions? Contact Kristina Magpayo Nyden, Management Services Officer at kristina@women.ucla.edu