Humanities Graduate Student Association Webpage: November Town Hall and Updated TPD Information

In memory of Clancy Taylor, our fellow humanities graduate student, and HGSA Executive Board 2019-2020 member, please share this link to The Clancy Taylor Fund established by Clancy’s family.

HGSA Solidarity Statement on BLM

Dear Fellow Humanities Students,

The HGSA executive board joins in solidarity with other organizations both on campus and within our community to voice our unequivocal support of Black lives and our Black community. We stand together against systemic racism and violence against Black individuals and communities. We know that many of you are heartbroken and in mourning over recent events, and we join with you in that mourning. We promise to continue to advocate for each of you, and to listen and learn from you as well.

There are many ways we as students can get involved and instigate change:

As always, we are here to serve you, so please continue to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have or to suggest new resources or volunteer opportunities.

Town Hall 11/18/2020

Engagement:

  • Events
    • If you were unable to attend an event or Town Hall this semester but are interested in seeing the recording, please contact us at hgsa@rice.edu.
    • We want to remind everyone that even if you cannot attend an entire event due to a timing conflict, please come for some part of it! It is not rude to show up late, we will just be happy to have you there. 
    • This semester the Teaching and Professional Development committee (TPD) hosted a series of workshops and events. These events were not well attended, which is understandable with the pandemic, timing conflicts, etc. that have been unique to this semester. 
    • However, the lack of attendance and responses in surveys communicates to the Deans a lack of interest in TPD opportunities. 
  • Surveys

Teaching Opportunities: 

  • Dean Canning is meeting with department heads in early December and will ask about teaching assignments and present our concerns with transparency in that process.
  • Departments will choose which students teach classes based on merit and academic standing 
    • Before teaching a class as instructor of record, the student should have some experience as a teaching assistant or with mentored teaching.
    • Should only be ABD.
  • The reasons that more courses are not taught by graduate students:
    • The Board and undergraduate students want to take courses taught by specialized professors
    • There is not enough funding.

Professional Development Opportunities:

  • Dean Canning agrees that there is a need for more pedagogical trainings: 
    • The Center for Teaching Excellence provides some training but it is not specific to the needs of humanities students.
  • One solution is to offer pedagogy courses at the departmental level.
    • Dean Canning proposed an interdisciplinary humanities seminar or workshop where students can work two syllabi: one in their main field and one outside the field that will help show variety in teaching ability.
  • Departmental representative will be in touch with department chairs to discuss an increase in teaching and professional development opportunities including transparency in the process of student selection.
  • In the spring we will partner with the Center for Career Development to talk about preparing for jobs outside of academia .
    • Dean canning will support us in partnering with them, and set up networks with employers who can come to rice career fairs for humanities jobs. 

For information on the Teaching and Professional Committee please visit their sub-page here: https://hgsa.rice.edu/committee-for-teaching-and-professional-development/

6th Year Funding

  • No application is needed for current 5th years to receive 6th year funding as it will just apply automatically.
  • For all other years, 6th year funding will be addressed on a year to year basis.

Immediate help and support

  • If you are self-isolating in Houston and can’t get groceries/are otherwise unable to access resources, email hgsa@rice.edu (or contact us on Twitter or via Facebook) and we will find a way to get you what you need.
  • We have made a spreadsheet indicating who has identified themselves as (a) still in Houston, (b) not among the most vulnerable, and (c) having access to transportation. If you fit this bill and are willing to help, email hgsa@rice.edu and let us know if you’re comfortable being on this spreadsheet. We may contact you for help with bringing resources to other graduate students.
  • Scott Pett (sap9@rice.edu) at the OISS has volunteered to be a point of contact for International Students and postdocs.

Teaching/Learning/Research Resources

  • Zoom guides published by Rice:
    • https://oit.rice.edu/zoom
    • https://kb.rice.edu/84808
  • As of 8/3 Fondren is starting Phase II of the library reopening! For information on that please check out https://library.rice.edu/
  • Fondren’s statement as of 8/6:
    • The access details are available on the library website here: https://library.rice.edu/service-updates
    • The library staff are presently in Phase II of a “soft opening.” The fuller opening of Phase III is scheduled, tentatively, for August 24th.
    • At this time, only the first floor is technically open, but Sue Garrison does add that any materials not available on the first floor can be accessed at this time by our graduate students. Reading between the lines, I would guess that a request to this effect to the library staff would be wise and prudent. I would ask that our graduate students not just go down to the basement or up to the upper floors on their own. Any humanities graduate student may certainly cite this exchange with the Dean’s Office and the Library via Sue Garrison when such a request is made. And if you need my assistance for any of this, I am always here and available. I think I would probably be the best person to contact in the Dean’s Office on this.
    • If you go to the link above, you will see that this is a “moving target,” as it were. Your question about what will happen in case of a second shut-down is really not answerable at this time. I think the library, like the rest of us, is simply trying to be nimble and respond to the situation as it develops, and no one knows where that will go.
  • Lastly, the DMC has a ton of virtual resources available, from remote Zoom workshops to 1-on-1 help. They will teach you how to use Photoshop, make videos, or whatever you can come up with. Beyond this, Jane Zhao would like to know what kind of in-person resources or services humanities grad students need from the Digital Media Commons–in the next month as well as on the longer term. Email Els to share info.
  • The Internet Archive will suspend waitlists for the 1.4 million (and growing) books in their lending library by creating a National Emergency Library to serve the nation’s displaced learners. This suspension will run through June 30, 2020, or the end of the US national emergency, whichever is later. Here is a Remote Library Services guide that includes links to a few of the e-resources being made temporarily available by publishers: https://libguides.rice.edu/off-campus/ebooks/provisional

hgsa-logo_horizontal-whitebg

Print Friendly, PDF & Email