Happy spring, colleagues! In this exciting edition of the newsletter, the team provides feedback on handling controversial topics (like gun control) in the classroom as well as provides information for graduate students on the benefits of joining a union.
If you have any suggestions for the newsletter team as we continue to move forward, please let me know.
All the best,
Jordana
Hello everyone,
It is with great pleasure I write my first letter as Chair of Division of Women & Crime. As I mentioned at the DWC breakfast meeting in Philadelphia: Coming to the ASC annual meeting as a new immigrant graduate student, I did not know anyone and felt overwhelmed by its sheer size. I ventured into a DWC meeting and realized I was sitting in the same room as the feminist scholars I had read about and admired back home – I was in awe, but felt at home. At that time, I could never have imagined that I would one day have this opportunity to lead DWC. I want to say this not just because I am extremely grateful, but also because I want to remind all those of you who may be feeling a little disillusioned about the state of our country – the American dream is alive and well!
We have had a busy four months since the ASC2017 meeting. The DWC Executive Council, with the support of the Feminist Criminology editorial board has selected Dr. Kristy Holtfreter as the newest editor of Feminist Criminology beginning June 2018. This is an exciting transition for the Journal and for the DWC. Let’s take a moment to thank Rosemary, especially, for the years of work she has devoted to the journal and to our preceding editors: Helen Eigenberg, Susan Sharp and Jana Jasinski.
I thank the DWC membership for their enthusiasm in signing up for the various DWC Committees. I have been able to put together all the committees and hosted a committee chairs conference call to discuss updates, priorities and deadlines for all the work that needs to be done. You can see the committee membership, descriptions etc. in this document.
The nomination committee led by Molly Dragiewicz and I worked very closely to put together a full slate of nominations. I am very excited to let you know that we have a woman and/or a DWC nominee for every ASC award. Here’s hoping that all of them win the respective awards.
We are in the process of establishing four new internal awards. Two poster awards, one each for a graduate and undergraduate student are being supported by a generous $1000 donation by Chris Eskridge. We must raise a match amount of new funds to get that donation. I will be reaching out to you about that soon. We are hoping to be able to support these awards starting ASC2018. Two new awards by the Diversity & Inclusion Committee of DWC are under works – one for an international scholar and another for a scholar from an underrepresented group. Feminist Criminology has promised funding support for these awards and we hope to be able to offer them starting ASC2019.
Rosemary Barberet, Cara Rabe-Hemp and I will be representing the DWC and Feminist Criminology in New York city at the Symposium on Women in Law Enforcement sponsored by John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the FBI in March 2018. More details at this link.
The DWC proposes to start a new tradition of hosting three policy panels at ASC each year. The panels will broadly revolve around three themes: Women as victims; Women as offenders & Women as practitioners. Please stay tuned for more information about this.
Thank you,
Sheetal Ranjan
Chair, Division on Women and Crime