Students and faculty can submit papers and panel ideas until Dec. 1 for the next Women’s and Gender Studies Conference.
The conference is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, but if there are enough submissions the conference will be extended to include Friday, Feb. 21. The theme of the 2020 conference is representation in the arts and will include photographer Jess Dugan as the keynote speaker.
Conference planner Caroline Lesch said the conference is meant to be open and accepting to as many people as possible and, therefore, she and the other planners are not highly selective of the papers.
Lesch said several faculty members — including English professors Sara Day and Summer Pennell — have already submitted ideas for panels, however, the conference is interdisciplinary, so students and faculty from any department can submit their work.
“I think that, honestly, it is an amazing way for people to submit their academic work in a way that they don’t have to travel. It’s not a really intense conference — you’re not going to be under pressure of competing against other students,” Lesch said. “It’s just an atmosphere of welcoming and supportiveness from everyone around you.”