Hi everyone,
With my move to Mississippi this summer I was unable to commit the department to hosting the Latina Researchers Conference. Fortunately the organizers were able
to make arrangements at UIW, making the conference accessible to our faculty and students.
Please help to spread the word about the conference, which will take place this July. The call for papers is attached.
Rebekah
Rebekah E. Smith, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Psychology
Director, UTSA Cognitive Aging Lab
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Rebekah.smith@utsa.edu
I am contacting you about a request from an alum, Josie Serrata, for UTSA to assist in sponsoring Latina Researchers Conference in summer 2016. This is not specifically a psychology conference and spans a broad array of areas. I am reaching
out to each of you because I think this event has relevance to different goals and areas: increasing diversity in faculty, increasing diversity in graduate students, community visibility, alumni relations, graduate recruitment, women’s studies.
The request appears to be primarily for space for the conference. They have funds for food, equipment, and support for attendees. Attendance is expected to be about 500. I do not know what possibilities exist at any of the three campuses
for this sort of event.
Please let me know (or feel free to contact the Josie directly) if you are interested in bringing the conference to UTSA or have suggestions for other people I should reach out to.
Thanks
Rebekah
Rebekah E. Smith, Ph.D
Professor and Chair
Department of Psychology
Director, UTSA Cognitive Aging Lab
The University of Texas at San Antonio
Hi Dr. Smith,
Thank you for your email. I really appreciate your quick response.
The primary support that we are looking for of a host is the use of their facilities at low to no cost. Given that most of our funding goes to helping participants attend, we offer travel awards to students and early-career researchers
as well as offer a low registration fee to help keep it affordable. Because this is important to us, we are hoping that the host site would keep facility costs at a minimum (we'd, of course, cover food, A/V equipment rental, etc.) We are actually hoping for
the end of July/early August, July 27th-29th would be ideal for us but we're very flexible given the quick turn around.
Other support, if feasible, could include housing of student attendees. Although not necessary, this would be helpful. A host site would not be asked for a monetary donation since the facilities are significant. In turn, we offer exposure
to the university of a tremendous pool of researchers, students and established researchers alike. The host department or departments could have an information table, information in the program and a speaking slot on the program to promote their departments
and work.
Please let me know if you'd like to discuss anything via phone. I'm available at 210-326-9185. Thank you, again, for your consideration and I really appreciate you following up.
As an alumni and San Antonio native, I'd be really excited to be able to bring this conference to UTSA.
Best,
Josie