Please read the following carefully, print it, and save it for future reference.

Welcome to WSConference-l, the listserv for participants in the first national working conference, The PhD in Women's Studies: Implications and Articulations. The planning committee will use this listserv to keep you up-to-date on the conference which will be held at Emory University in October, 2001.

WSConference-l is set up as an administrative list, rather than an interactive list, and so we anticipate a fairly low volume of messages. You will get a separate message from the Listserver here at Penn State, and that message will give you detailed information on how to manage your subscription to the list.

Every message you receive from the listserv will be indicated by [conference-WSPhD] in the subject line. That way you will know immediately that it is a conference-relevant message.

As with other listservs, you will use one address to post to the list and different addresses to manage your subscription.

POSTING MESSAGES: The list is moderated which means that when a subscriber posts to the list, the message first goes to one of the “listowners” to approve the posting. We’ve selected this option so that we can keep message volume down and germane to the conference itself. You can get a list of all subscribers (that is, everyone who will
attend the conference plus some support staff) and write to people individually (see next section).

1. To post messages to the list send your posting to WSconference-L@lists.psu.edu. Be sure to include topic in the
subject line.

2. Please do NOT include attachments.

LISTSERV BUSINESS/SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT:

1. If you wish to suspend participation temporarily, send a message to listserv@lists.psu.edu. In the body of the message type: set WSConference-l nomail. Do not include a signature block on this message. To reinstate your subscription, address the message to listserv@lists.psu.edu. In the body of the message type: set WSConference-l mail.

2. To delete yourself from the list permanently send an email to listserv@lists.psu.edu. No subject is reuqired. In the body of the text write only: signoff WSConference-l. Do not include a signature. If you unsubscribe, please be aware of the fact that much conference-relevant information will not be distributed by other means. So if you cease to be a subscriber, you may miss information you need.

3. To obtain a list of all subscribers, send an email to listserv@lists.psu.edu. No subject line is required. In the body of the text write only: review WSConference-l. Do not include a signature.

4. If you have any problems, questions, or suggestions about how to improve the list set-up, please contact me, the list moderator, at sashields@psu.edu or the address at the end of this message. Please do NOT send listserv commands to the message posting address!

Please observe international copyright laws as they pertain to the Internet. Do not forward postings without permission.

All best,
Stephanie
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Dear Participant,

We are very excited about the upcoming conference on the Women's Studies Ph.D. While we regret that we cannot include all those who would like to participate, we are pleased that you have agreed and we look forward to working with you.

Plans are proceeding and the initial responses to our grant requests have made us quite hopeful; however, we write now because we do have some deadlines that must be attended to right away. Specifically, we need official
registrations and housing reservations now.

REGISTRATION

Because we have applied for grants which are still under consideration at several foundations, we do not yet know the total cost per person beyond this fee. We hope that these grant funds will cover most conference expenses (lodging, hopefully dinner costs, and even defray the cost of transportation). However, we know that the registration fee which everyone must pay will be $125.00 per person. This fee goes towards conference site costs for use of rooms and equipment and it also is applied to costs of breakfast and lunches.

PLEASE CONFIRM YOU PARTICIPATION BY MAILING THE ENCLOSED REGISTRATION FORM WITH A CHECK (made to Emory University) for $125.00. PLEASE DO THIS BY JULY 23.

HOUSING

The conference will be held October 12 - 14 at the Emory Conference Center, 1615 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA 30329. The special cost of a room (whether single or double occupancy) is $145.00 per night. The block of rooms reserved for us will be held only until SEPTEMBER 11, so please reserve your room before that date. If you do not,
we cannot guarantee you conference housing. The number to call for reservations is 1-800-933-6679 (or 404-712-6565). Be sure to identify yourself as an "Emory Women's Studies Conference" participant.

Our funding requests, if fulfilled, will allow us to pay a maximum of $72.50 per night for each participant (that's half the cost of a double room.) If you want a single room, you will pay the other half. We expect that most of you will want to share a room and we will post on the website a list of participants for your convenience in arranging for roommates. We cannot assign roommates or otherwise facilitate this for you. We advise that you make those arrangements yourselves before calling to reserve your room. Again, we must be clear, it is our hope that our funding will allow us to cover a shared room for each person for three nights; however, if we are unsuccessful, it will be your responsibility to cover the costs of your lodging.

As you make your travel and housing arrangements, please remember that this is a "working conference." Many of you have been asked (or soon will be) to assume particular responsibility for a topic or session, but everyone who has been invited has been invited because s/he has an important role to play. Thus it is essential that you plan to be at the first session on Friday October 12 as 8:30 AM and stay until the final session ends at 11:00 AM on Sunday. Since many or most will need to arrive the night before, we plan a nice reception at the Conference Center on Thursday, October 11 to begin about 7:00 PM. We are excited, we look forward to this, and we hope you are too.

Should you have any questions, please contact Paula Jayne, our conference coordinator <pjayne@emory.edu> or any one of us on the planning committee.

Frances Smith Foster, for the Planning Committee
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Dear conference participants,

We have a reminder, an update, and some very good news to share with you.

Good news: We have received 2 grants, from the Ford Foundation and the Emory Foundation, that together partially fund the expenses of the Conference. These grants, plus your registration fee, will fully cover the cost of the Conference Center itself (plus supplies, including A-V equipment); a continental breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon
snack each day; and the cost of hotel accommodations, at the double room rate. (For those who wish a single room, we will cover 50% of that cost.)

An update about travel expenses: Unfortunately, we will be unable to cover travel expenses fully. We are therefore urging everyone to request funds for travel from their institutions. We will, however, consider requests for travel subsidies from those who are unable to obtain assistance from their institutions.

The deadline for sending requests for travel subsidies is September 15. This deadline is absolute, since decisions will have to be made and recipients informed of the amount they can expect from us.

All participants must make (and pay in advance for) their own travel reservations. Reimbursement will be arranged after the Conference. You must save your receipt and both ticket coupons (proof that you actually were on the flight) in order to be reimbursed.

Send requests for travel subsidy to me (sashields@psu.edu) or Paula Jayne, our conference coordinator (pjayne@emory.edu).

A reminder: Conference registration is due NOW! Please contact Paula (pjayne@emory.edu) if you have not yet sent your registration check to her. And don’t forget that room reservations must be made by September 11. (See the June 24 email regarding conference registration and room reservations for more infoor let me know if you need another copy of that email.)

That's it for now. Should you have any questions, please contact Paula or any one of us on the planning committee.

Stephanie
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Dear conference participants--

If you've made your room reservations and/or found a roommate, you can delete this message.

If you are still seeking a roommate, read on...

As you know, our funding from Ford Foundation and Emory University enables the conference to pay for shared rooms. The planning committee doesn't have the personnel to help individuals find roommates, but here are a couple of possibilities that
might make the process a little easier.

1. You can obtain a list of all subscribers to our conference listserv. Send an email to listserv@lists.psu.edu. No subject line is required. Do not include a signature. In the body of the text write only: review WSConference-l.

2. I'll repeat our one-time roommate-finder list--it seemed to be pretty successful when we tried this earlier in the month. Send your name to me (sashields@psu.edu) by SEPTEMBER 5. On the 6th I will send out an email to our listserv with the
names of folks who still seek roommates. Remember, you (or your rommate) need to reserve a room directly with the Emory conference center by September 11 at the latest.

All best,
Stephanie
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IF YOU DID NOT REQUEST TRAVEL SUBSIDY, YOU CAN DELETE THIS MESSAGE. IF YOU DID MAKE A REQUEST, PLEASE READ ON...

Dear Conference Participants,

Good news--If you applied for a travel subsidy, the conference budget will be able to meet your request. (If you did not apply and are still reading, please note that there are no more travel funds left, and so no more awards can be made.) Committee
members Bonnie Zimmerman and Jean O'Barr took on the task of reviewing requests for subsidy and making them square with our budget.

I am writing to the list as a whole just to save time in preparing separate emails, but if you have any questions or want to verify the amount of your award, please email me (sashields@psu.edu).

VERY IMPORTANT: In order to receive reimbursement, you must submit your original receipt and boarding passes. We'll have information available at the conference or via email immediately after to give you the details on where and to whom to send the material.

Safe travels to all--See you in two weeks!
Best,
Stephanie (for the planning committee)

Stephanie A. Shields
Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies
The Pennsylvania State University
514 Moore Bldg.
University Park, PA 16802

814.863.1729
814.867.7760 (fax)

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[CONFERENCE-WSPHD] Message from Linda Basch of NCRW
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 07:59:23 -0400
From: "Stephanie A. Shields" <sashields@PSU.EDU>
To: WSCONFERENCE-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU

FROM LINDA BASCH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH ON
WOMEN (NCRW). Linda will be joining us in Atlanta.

We've been trying to send you the following letter since early last week. Our
email has been down, however, and the methods we thought were working don't
seem to be. If you already received this letter, our apologies. Please know,
we have been eager to communicate with you. We send best regards, Linda Basch

To all our friends:

The world is still reeling from the sorrowful and frightening events of
September 11. We want to express deep thanks to everyone who has called,
emailed, and kept us in their thoughts, and let you all know that we, and
those in our networks, are safe. We hope that you and those close to you are
safe and well also. Because of our proximity to the World Trade Center, our
office was closed for a week. But we are now back in our space in lower
Manhattan trying to return to more normal routines, at the same time
reflecting on what has happened. We want to share some thoughts with you.

As an organization we want to underscore the shared sadness we feel at this
moment with all those across the globe who care about peace and social
justice, and to express solidarity with those who have lost loved ones in
this tragedy. Several thousand people are still missing in New York and
hundreds have died at the Pentagon and in the planes used in the attacks.

We also want to report how heartened we have felt at many moments over the
past week, amidst the trauma and devastation. We have felt a connection with
much of humanity as people around the country and the world, from England to
India to Palestine to Israel to Kenya to Taiwan have lit candles and voiced
their collective sorrow and support. And we have been proud of the everyday
heroism of people of all colors, ages, occupations, genders, religions, and
political beliefs. People have lined up in the thousands to give blood, to
help dig out what remains of “ground zero,” to participate in continuing
rescue efforts, and to insist that life must go on. A sense of community and
connection, which for the moment has melted differences, has emerged in New
York in the face of this human catastrophe. It has been a time in which the
normal pulse of productivity and progress have given way to a fundamental
struggle for and affirmation of life. Our heroes have been firefighters,
police men and women, steel workers, and countless, nameless volunteers who
have come from all over the Northeast and even further to assist us.

We urge that these human impulses of community, connection, tolerance, and
respect for life, along with principles of social justice, guide us as our
country crafts a response to this dreadful attack. As the National Council
for Research on Women embarks on a three-year project to examine the
intersections of globalization, human security, and gender, we recognize that
this attack raises important questions about what can constitute human
security in a changing world. How can people feel safe, how can human rights
be structured when terror and the hatred that led to such acts of desperation
and destruction surround us, and to what institutions can people look for
protection?

The attack also underscores the perplexing nature of global forces. The
attack’s origin is not located in a particular nation state, which makes it
elusive and frighteningly ambiguous. Identifying points of responsibility and
accountability in this new global configuration and understanding the
complexities of global forces will require careful examination, analysis, and
a willingness to go beyond our assumptions and political stereotypes.

Deep inequalities of resources and power, injustice, violence, and strife --
the result of historical practices and ideologies anchored in racism, bigotry
and greed -- exist throughout the world today and haunt us. To create a safe
world free from terror and hatred, we must create a just world in which all
peoples feel safe and protected by basic human rights. We need to be mindful
of the dangers of eroding civil, political and economic liberties or of
targeting whole populations as the enemy. Out of the sense of injustice,
deep sorrow, empathy, and connection emerging from this evil attack, we must
strive to create a global community and institutions that will work
collectively to forge such a world.

As a network of women’s research, policy, and advocacy organizations, we
recognize palpably that in situations of strife women and children are often
the most vulnerable. We also know from our experiences at the world
conferences on women held over the past three decades, and especially those
in Nairobi and Beijing, that women from opposing political camps increasingly
have expressed similar concerns about peace and ending conflicts and
instability, and have strategized together about how to achieve these goals.
As we struggle as a nation to find the appropriate response to the attacks of
the past week and to world terrorism, let us work together to see that
women’s experiences, perspectives, reason, aspirations for peace, and voices
are equally represented in the discussions and negotiations. Women’s
leadership, along with men’s, is crucial at all levels -- local, national,
and global -- as we work collectively to recover from the frightening recent
incidents and to shape a more just and humane world.

With warm regards,

The National Council for Research on Women

Linda Basch
Executive Director
National Council for Research on Women (NCRW)
11 Hanover Square, 20th floor
New York, NY 10005
phone: 212-785-7335
fax: 212-785-7350
email: lbasch@ncrw.org

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[CONFERENCE-WSPHD] Final Pre-conference Message
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001
From: "Stephanie A. Shields" <sashields@PSU.EDU>
To: WSCONFERENCE-L@LISTS.PSU.EDU

Dear Conference Participants,

“The Women’s Studies Ph.D.: Implications and Articulations” is just a few days away. The conference planning committee is pleased that even during these difficult and uncertain times, the commitment of our women’s studies community to this conference has not wavered. Nearly 90 people are registered and our conference participants represent over 50 colleges, universities, foundations, and research organizations. Participants are coming from across the U.S. (including Hawai’i) and from Canada. Only three participants have had to withdraw because of complications concerning travel. The conference has a full and exciting schedule, and we hope that you are ready for this important first, a national conversation about the roles, scope, and future of the doctorate in women’s studies.

And a few more details
1. Weather in Atlanta is predicted to be in the mid-70s during the day, mid-50s at night.
2. Wendy Kolmar has added some information about airport transportation to the website: http://www.depts.drew.edu/wmst/WS_PhD/SiteInfo.htm
3. You can obtain a list conference participants via our listserv. Send an email to
listserv@lists.psu.edu. No subject line is required. Do not include a signature. In the body of the text write only: review wsconference-l.

We look forward to seeing you at Emory!

Wishing you safe travels,

Stephanie (on behalf of the organizing committee)

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In order to accomodate the extra time that may be needed at the airport on Sunday morning, our closing plenary has been rescheduled for 8 to 10 a.m. Don't worry, though--coffee will still be available beforehand!

Also, you may want to consider cab sharing as an alternative to the airport bus. Paula found out that cabs cost $30 to $35 from the airport to the conference center. The shuttle is $20 one way, $30 RT (http://www.depts.drew.edu/wmst/WS_PhD/SiteInfo.htm). If there is extra demand for cabs on Sunday, you can call ahead to make reservations for a cab.

Last, I checked with my airline (USAirways) and they are not requiring exorbitant amounts of extra time at the airport (http://usairways.com/corporate/current_operations/airport_expectations.htm#CheckIn). If you are concerned about how much time to allow, the best thing to do is to check in advance with your airline.

See you at Emory!

All best,
Stephanie

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