- The Executive Committee of the LSA will be holding its Spring meeting on 9-10 May, 2008, in Washington, DC. For further information, contact Katha Kissman.
- Nominations for the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award are due 1 June, 2008.
- Nominations for the LSA's "Linguistics, Language and the Public" Award will be accepted until 1 June, 2008.
Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics (CEDL)
2008
Background
Established in 1994 as the Interim Committee on the Status of Minorities in Linguistics. Current name was adopted in 1995.
Recognizing that some ethnic and racial minorities in the United States are significantly underrepresented in linguistics and in the membership of the LSA, and that it is in the interest of the field of linguistics and of American society to be enriched by the participation of all its ethnic groups, the LSA established a Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics. Its principal charges are:
1. Helps the Society and the profession identify, publicize, and implement ways of improving the recruitment, retention, and professional development of linguists from underrepresented ethnic minorities.
2. Makes recommendations to the Society and the profession concerning ways in which full equality of opportunity can be provided to all who seek to study, teach, or conduct research in linguistics.
The Society acknowledges the wide range of ways in which the term ‘ethnic minority’ may be interpreted. The Committee's work is directed to those groups which are clearly underrepresented at all levels in linguistics relative to their numbers in the US population. Such groups include African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Americans from a variety of Asian and Pacific Islander back-grounds. The activities of the Committee are not limited to any stipulated set of such groups but are aimed at increasing access to and diversity within the field on a broad basis.
Responsibilities
The work of the Committee includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Suggests ways in which LSA annual meetings can promote the goal of increasing ethnic diversity in linguistics and can more inclusively serve the interests of current and future members of the Society who belong to ethnic minority groups, e.g. by encouraging the submittal of scholarly symposia and by organ-izing other kinds of sessions and open meetings.
2. Promotes better awareness and understanding of linguistics in schools and in society, with a view to attracting people from diverse backgrounds into linguistics and maximizing the accessibility of the subject and the profession to members of underrepresented ethnic groups.
3. Collects and shares ideas about undergraduate and graduate teaching that will encourage ethnic diversity in linguistics, including ideas about course content and design, teaching, assignments, teacher training (for both TAs and faculty) that encourages sensitivity to diversity-related issues; collects and makes avail-able resource material that allows minority and nonnormative speech data to be incorporated into linguistics courses at both specialist and general-education levels.
4. Explores issues relating to ethnic diversity in linguistics in a broad range of education contexts (e.g. K-12; university outreach to high schools; outreach or exchange programs involving colleges with high minority enrollment; graduate schools), and brings relevant ideas and information to the attention of the Society and the profession.
5. Promotes communication, networking, and mentoring between minority students and professional linguists.
6. Promotes the positive recognition of mentoring, advising, and other supportive roles that may take up a disproportionately large contribution of time for the few ethnic minority faculty members in the profession and disseminates information about solutions to the problem of overburdening minority faculty in this way.
7. Establishes liaison with other committees or organizations that are concerned with ethnic diversity in academia and in related professions and disciplines and engages in cooperative efforts where appropriate.
8. Identifies unfair or discriminatory practices and practices which have de facto discriminatory or discouraging effects on ethnic minority members and advises the Society and the profession of ways in which they may be rectified.
9. Collects and disseminates relevant data and resource materials and publicizes the activities of the Committee by all appropriate means.
Selected Activities
Annual Meeting: Organized roundtable discussion: Minority Recruitment and Retention in Linguistics: Experiences and Strategies.
Minority Travel Fund
Minority students who are current LSA members and have a paper accepted for presentation at the LSA Annual Meeting or any of the concurrent meetings may apply for travel funds (up to $500). For the purpose of this fund, the term 'minority' is defined as "members of racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. that have been historically disenfranchised in the U.S. and are traditionally underrepresented in higher education in general, and in linguistics in particular." These funds are restricted to U.S. citizens as well as permanent residents of the U.S. Application consists of a letter from the applicant indicating minority status and estimated travel costs, a copy of the abstract, and a brief letter from the student's chair or advisor verifying the applicant's standing and indicating what other funding resources (if any) the student has available at his/her home institution. All materials should be sent to: Marlyse Baptista, Chair, CEDL, U Georgia, English Dept./Linguistics Prog., 337 Park Hall, Athens, GA 30602 (email: baptista@uga.edu). Electronic submissions are preferred but not required. The deadline for receipt of materials is 15 November 2007.
Mentoring System
The LSA Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics (CEDL) is establishing a brand new mentoring program for underrepresented undergraduates, graduate students, and junior faculty who are seeking advice, in an effort to improve the number of members of underrepresented ethnic and racial groups in linguistics.
You need not be a full professor or a member of a minority ethnic group in order to be a CEDL mentor, you need only be willing to share your knowledge about whatever aspect(s) of a career in linguistics you think might be beneficial to someone your junior. After hearing from you and from those interested in being mentored, the CEDL Mentoring Committee will match mentors with mentees. At a minimum, the Mentoring Committee suggests that mentors contact their mentees at least once in the Fall and once again in the Spring, by email and/or telephone. If you are willing to serve as a mentor, please fill out the short CEDL Mentoring Application and forward it to any member of our committee (listed below). You will be asked to indicate area(s) in which you feel comfortable providing advice, and which category of mentee you would prefer.
The names and emails/urls of available mentors are available below. Anyone seeking a mentor will be asked to send the Mentoring Committee a short statement about whom they would like to have as a mentor and the kind of relationship/advice they’re looking for. The Mentoring Committee will make the initial contact with you about a possible mentee, keeping in mind the preferences and interests of both parties. If any problems arise in the mentoring relationship, mentors and/or mentees may contact the Mentoring Committee for a reassignment or cancellation.
We urge mentors to try to meet their mentee(s) in person at the LSA or other academic meetings, if possible, in addition to contacting them via email. It is our hope that this mentoring opportunity will help more students from underrepresented groups to enter and pursue an academic career in linguistics. Most importantly, we hope that this effort will aid the transmission of academic knowledge, diversify linguistic research, and create lasting, productive relationships for everyone involved.
We look forward to hearing from you, and invite you to join us on Jan 6 at 8am in Albuquerque for coffee and a discussion of our 2005 Minority Scholar Survey and the Mentoring program.
CEDL Mentoring Committee
Ana Celia Zentella, University of California, San Diego
Alicia Beckford Wassink, University of Washington
Lauren Hall-Lew, Stanford University
Faculty CEDL Mentors available for contact
Membership
At least 9 members, serving staggered three-year terms with at least one student member.
Committee Members (all terms run through the end of the year in parentheses)
Sonja Lanehart, Co-chair, University of Texas, San Antonio (2008)
Rocky Meade, Co-chair, U West Indies Mona (2010)
Dany Adone, University of Cologne (2010)
John Baugh, Washington University-St. Louis (2008)
Jennifer Bloomquist, Gettysburg College (2009)
John Lipski, Pennsylvania State University (2008)
Iyabo Osiapem, College of William and Mary (2010)
Rogelio Reyes, San Diego State University-Imperial Valley (2009)
Zuzana Tomkova (student member), University of Chicago (2008)
Links
Committee
on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics Course Materials
