Hey all,

Well, that was exciting!  Just got back from a trip to Landis House to tag the furniture we'll be using once we move in.  Right now our move is scheduled for next week and we should be open for operations on the first day of classes, January 25th.  Paula, Lori and I have been picking out paint colors and discussing the layout of the resource room, the reading room, and our individual offices.  Our third partner in this project, Shalom Staub, is out of the country on a college trip, and we definitely miss his input!  It's fun to contemplate nesting but it adds another layer of work to the week.  I'm heading out for the LeaderShape retreat in Quarryville next week, as is Paula, so we are looking at a firm deadline:  we board the bus at 9:30am on Saturday.

In other news--after a great relaxing weekend, I'm sitting down for some serious administration this week.  I'm still working on reading Do I Look Fat In This? and developing student worker and intern descriptions for the Women's Center.  Although I really want to engage students quickly in the growing Center, I'm starting to wonder if that project might be best handled as a really thoughtful summer experience.  The plus side to that is that it means I can look very thoughtfully at what will work best and set it as a top goal/priority for 2010-2011.  The down side is, of course, that it means one more semester without as much active formal student ownership of Women's Center projects and mission (there's plenty of informal engagement and leadership, but it's time to make an accountable structure).  Any thoughts or interest in this? 

I also didn't make it to reviewing spring programs or finalizing my syllabus (though I have a great outline of the latter and just need to line up the dates with the readings).  So those are top priority for today.

I also have the great privilege of meeting later today with Chris Van Buskirk and Tara Renault to discuss a partnership with College Advancement around International Women's Day.  I'm excited about this prospect and, since I was sick last week, looking forward to the rescheduled meeting!

Other items on the list:

--pack my office in the HUB

--read ecofeminism article that Sarah Brylinsky shared with me on google docs after our meeting late last week

--write two memos/statements regarding our grant application so we can update college administrators about the work that's moving forward for Dickinson to apply for a campus safety grant through the Department of Justice's Office of Violence Against Women.  This is a major ongoing initiative in our work to prevent and respond to sexual violence and, since we're pulling together our grant writing team this month, it's time for me to draft a short statement to share a little more broadly so other folks at the college know what's going on.

--PanHel:  In late January, I'm going to be assisting Associate Dean Tim Poirier with a retreat for executives in the PanHellenic Association.  I need to check in with Tim about what this retreat will look like so I can get rolling with any prep/outlining/research I might need to do.  Our initial conversation was about promoting positive women's communities, so it's time to get a little deeper into what that might mean (both for that specific event but also to be sure it fits with the broader picture of Greek advising and feminist work at Dickinson).

 --Intro to Women's and Gender Studies field trip:  the students in my WGST 200 course this semester will have an opportunity to go on a field trip related to human trafficking in February.  I need to finalize and comment upon our itinerary and then be sure my syllabus is a good fit.

Lots to do and lots of fun to do it!  As always, feel free to email with your input and let me know if you would like to join or support specific projects.  My apologies if I don't have a chance to email with a reply right away but it's great to hear from you.  Next week I'll be helping the students attending LeaderShape to develop their vision.  So I'll be back with a blog on the first day of classes, Monday, January 25th.  Have fun, be well, stay warm, and let me know what you think!

 Susannah