As we start these two days of intellectual exchange, I am so excited to reconnect with long-time members and meet those who are new to the Grupo de Estudios sobre la Mujer en España y las Américas (pre-1800).

It is you, presenters and audience members, who will make this event a success! Presenters will disseminate cutting-edge work on women’s cultural and historical production. Your scholarship and passion will provide a rich platform for us all to grow intellectually, share ideas, and forge pathways for future research and collaborations. I hope the conversations we start here will evolve into publications, as well as teaching and research materials. The membership’s participation will further enrich this intellectual exchange, as well as help us further GEMELA’s mission to unite scholars across traditional disciplinary boundaries through its focus on women’s cultural production in medieval and early modern Spain and colonial Latin America through 1800.

In addition to the scheduled panel presentations, GEMELA is pleased to kick off our Mentorship Program during this virtual symposium. The Mentorship Program will provide a platform through which mentors can share with mentees field and research insights, as well as advice and strategies for navigating job searches, preparing files for tenure and promotion to full, and success in administration positions. If you have not yet signed up for this wonderful initiative, I encourage you to do so by filling out this form.

On a final note, I would like to wholeheartedly thank the GEMELA Board, which has arduously worked to make this event a reality. Special gratitude goes to Sara Guengerich, Montserrat Pérez-Toribio, and Emily Francomano who have been instrumental in the creation of this program and website, as well as in the inauguration of our Mentorship Program.

A very warm welcome to each and every one of you! If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact any member of the Board.

President, GEMELA

Board Members

President: Rosilie Hernández president@gemela.org

Past President: Emily Francomano past.president@gemela.org

First Vice-President: Sara Guengerich first.vice-president@gemela.org

Second Vice-President: Sarah Finley second.vice-president@gemela.org

Secretary: Emily Beck secretary@gemela.org

Managing Director: Bradford Ellis treasurer@gemela.org

Web Advisor: Montserrat Pérez-Toribio webadvisor@gemela.org