Service to Your Profession / Discipline

Traveling Jam Pot

As a long-time member of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), the premier scholarly organization in my more traditional discipline of eighteenth-century studies, I was asked last year to serve on the Traveling Jam Pot board, which reviews graduate student requests for funding to present at the annual conference. I read and review 5-6 graduate student applications each year, confer with colleagues on the merits of each case, and help determine which two students should receive the award.

Serving in a leadership position in discipline-related organizations

As a longstanding member of ASECS, a relatively new member of the Aphra Behn Society (I joined this wonderful organization when I was invited to co-lead a workshop on women writers and Wikipedia), and a founding web editor of Aphra Behn Online (circa 2011 and discussed in my application for tenure), my activity within the discipline has led to many meritorious opportunities for service.

ASECS DH Caucus

For the past three years, I have served as president of the ASECS Digital Humanities Caucus, and I am a founding member of that caucus, as well. In that capacity, I organize two panel sessions at the annual conference and coordinate with other members of the caucus to recruit members, identify new areas of interest in the discipline, and mentor young faculty. I plan to transition out of the position this year to devote more energy to my scholarship and my pedagogy as well as my editorial commitment (noted below) to ABO: An Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830, but I will of course continue to participate deeply.

NINES and 18th Connect

I also serve by invitation on the 18th Connect Steering Committee and the NINES (Networked Infrastructure for Nineteenth-Century Electronic Scholarship) editorial board. These organizations are significant in the academic community, forging several new modes of understanding the peer review of digital humanities publications and born-digital projects. 18th Connect and NINES both are scholarly organizations that work to link the textual and material archives of the past, specifically full-text searchable primary source databases like Eighteenth Collections Online, with contemporary modes of digital research. These positions are intimately related to my reviewing work, described above.

Virginia Humanities Conference

Most significantly, perhaps, I serve as the Marymount Delegate to the Virginia Humanities Conference, an organization of universities, colleges, and community colleges in Virginia whose purpose it is to promote interest and research in the humanities. As a member of the delegation since 2013, I represent Marymount and encourage MU faculty and students to participate in the annual conference. In 2014-2015, I served as the VHC President, organizing and convening the annual conference on Marymount’s campus.

This conference was a notable success in the history of the VHC, bringing over 100 attendees and almost 90 presenters from organizations, colleges, community colleges, universities, high schools, and libraries across the U.S. to share work on the theme “The Humanities and/in the Public Sphere.” I brought Dr. Steven Lubar of Brown University to campus to discuss museum curation and his new project on alternative museums and the idea of memory; his keynote lecture--also the 2015 Bisson Lecture in the Humanities--focused on curatorial schemas and the role of the museum in public memory. Significantly, several members of the Arlington community also registered to attend the conference, and the Graduate Program in English and Humanities earned at least one new enrollee as a result of her participation. As President and Convener, I developed, wrote, and distributed the Call for Papers, designed and disseminated publicity materials like the keynote poster to the left, created a method for electronically contacting individuals within area universities and colleges, substantially redesigned the Virginia Humanities Conference website, and added a Facebook page and a (newly-revised/fledged) Twitter account. A major part of the website redesign included incorporating an electronic means of registering and dues payment using PayPal, which allows us to keep track of interested participants and simplifies record-keeping and finances. I also collected feedback from attendees; you can read all of that feedback here, including the following comment:

Everyone I came into contact with at the conference was incredibly kind and professional. As a visitor, I thought the faculty and students involved in running the conference reflected very highly on Marymount as a whole. The email correspondence was warm, professional and inviting. I am incredibly happy that I participated in this conference, and it was an enjoyable and well organized experience. Also, the food was excellent for the presenter's banquet.

Serving in an editorial support role for a journal or professional publication

ABO: An Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

Most recently, I was invited to join an astonishing group of women as the Digital Humanities Section Editor for the now-titled ABO: An Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830, a peer-reviewed and indexed scholarly journal--I have included their invitation letter here. As Section Editor, it is my job to solicit appropriate essay and project contributions, locate appropriate external reviewers, and see approved contributions through the editorial process. I also coordinate with my colleagues to develop a vision for my section of the journal. I am just beginning my 5-year long tenure commitment to the journal.

Web and Publications Editor, VHC

My success as President and Convenor of the 2015 Virginia Humanities Conference led directly to my current and permanent position with the VHC as Web and Publications Editor. In this capacity, I continue to update the website and other publicity materials (including social media), collaborate with current Conveners and their university teams to create and distribute information, and manage the website and registration back end. I am currently working on our inaugural Conference Proceedings.