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RSA 2020 - Three Preconvention Career Retreat Opportunities
Prefacing the 2020 Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) Conference in Portland, OR (May 2020), we will be hosting three preconvention Career Retreat Opportunities:
- A Career Retreat for Associate Professors
- A Career Retreat for Contingent Faculty
- A Career Retreat for Academic Leadership
Additional career-focused opportunities will be available during the regular conference programing, such as a session to provide mentoring opportunities and one focusing on retired or soon-to-retire career opportunities.
For the preconference retreats: Please apply no later than February 5, 2020. Notification will be sent by February 15. Space is limited to 24 participants.
Questions about the Career Retreat can be directed in email to Cheryl Geisler, cgeisler@sfu.ca. See you there!
2020 RSA Career Retreat for Associate Professors
Cheryl Geisler, Simon Fraser University
Lynee Lewis Gaillet, Georgia State University
Suzanne Bordelon, San Diego State University
Kendal Phillips, Syracuse University
The Career Retreat for Associate Professors is an initiative of the RSA to reach out to associate professors seeking to complete a scholarly project and achieve promotion to full professor. Following tenure, many RSA members suffer from isolation at their home institutions that can make completing scholarly projects difficult. Advice and support on advancement issues often disappears, and a host of new obligations often compete for our attention.
With a special invitation for women and underrepresented minorities, the 2020 Career Retreat offers the opportunity to work with a senior member of the RSA who has agreed to serve as a Career Mentor to:
- Learn how to “read” your own institution,
- Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your current curriculum vita,
- Develop an action plan to achieve promotion to full professor, and
- Confer with a writing workgroup designed to sustain you once the Retreat is completed.
Following the Retreat, your writing workgroup will be asked to keep in touch on a monthly basis and check in with your Career Mentor every few months. Writing workgroups are expected to continue for at least 18 months.
The Career Retreat for Associate Professors begins at 1:00 on Thursday, May 21 and concludes at 10.30 on Friday, May 22. Click HERE to apply.
The Career Retreat is open to all associate professors.
2020 RSA Career Retreat for Contingent Faculty
A Special Preconference Retreat held in conjunction with the 2020 Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) Conference in Portland, OR
Seth Kahn, West Chester University
Katie Feyh, Syracuse University
The primary focus of this career retreat is helping contingent faculty find and/or enhance their ability to do research/scholarship. Depending on the needs of participants, we will help participants think through such issues as:
- developing a trajectory that's manageable given a heavy teaching load;
- accessing research funds, even on campuses that withhold them from contingent faculty;
- establishing collaborations and networks for scholarly activity;
- choosing and framing scholarly activities in pursuit of and independently of tenure-track positions;
- taking advantage of the flexibility that contingent positions afford.
The Retreat will also include writing/feedback time for new ideas or works in progress in the day’s schedule and will help participants develop writing/reading groups beyond the preconference.
Finally, given time and interest, the facilitators are experienced labor activists and organizers who can help contingent faculty strategize and advocate for improved working conditions.
The Career Retreat for Contingent Faculty begins at 9:00 on Thursday, May 21 and concludes at 5:00 the same day.
Please apply no later than February 5, 2020.. Notification will be sent by February 15. Space is limited to 24 participants. Click HERE to apply.
Questions about the Career Retreat can be directed in email to Seth Kahn, SKahn@wcupa.edu. See you there!
2020 RSA Career Retreat on Leadership
A Special Preconference Retreat held in conjunction with the 2020 Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) Conference in Portland, OR
Victoria Gallagher, North Carolina State University
David Kaufer, Carnegie Mellon University
In this one-day workshop, participants who are on a leadership trajectory and who are interested in preparing for the “next step” will engage with seminar leaders, past workshop participants and fellow colleagues to explore the rhetorical basis of leadership and the affordances of a rhetorical understanding of leadership as it affects both day-to-day and long-term decision making.
Specifically, participants will learn how to look within to assess their strengths as leaders, and to look outward to assess their perceptions of their organizations and how those perceptions – along with the material structures and exigencies of organizations – influence their leadership style and decision-making.
The first half of the workshop will be devoted to completing and discussing various assessment instruments, group activities, case studies, and readings. Alumni of past workshops will join the group during the second half of the day to reflect on how the workshop has informed their leadership trajectories and to participate in case studies and guided reflections geared toward the specific leadership roles and challenges participants are facing (or will face). The last session of the workshop will be devoted to a discussion of three topics: rhetorical leadership training, scholarship, and curricular development.
Professor Victoria Gallagher of North Carolina State University has held a number of administrative and leadership positions both at her university and in professional associations, including serving as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at NC State (2008-2015), and serving as President of the Southern States Communication Association (2017-18).
Dr. David Kaufer of Carnegie Mellon University served 15 years as Department Head of English at Carnegie Mellon University, and is a former member of the RSA Board and an RSA Fellow.
The Career Retreat on Leadership begins at 9:00 on Thursday, May 21 and concludes at 5:00 the same day. Dinner will follow at an agreed upon time for those interested.
Please apply no later than February 5, 2020.. Notification will be sent by February 15. Space is limited to 24 participants. Click HERE to apply.
Questions about the Career Retreat can be directed in email to Victoria Gallagher, vgallagh@ncsu.edu. We look forward to having you join us!
