From Christine Kowalczyk, Doctoral Candidate, University of Memphis:

Today’s children are growing up in a society where they are exposed to televisions, video games and computers at younger ages. As parent of a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I am concerned about marketing and advertising toward young children through these mediums, thus I am interested in hearing other parent’s opinions about this topic. The purpose of this study is to investigate parents’ attitudes toward advertising, both for themselves and their young children, aged 2- to 7-years old. By responding to the survey, you have the opportunity to be entered into a drawing to win a $50 online gift certificate. You will not be solicited other requests in the future. You must have a child between the ages of 2 and 7 years old, including these ages.

The survey will take less than 10 minutes of your time and can only be completed once. Click on this link:
survey link
or paste the following into your browser:

http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?7D593526743C2A2D

Thank you for your opinions! Please feel free to share the link with family and friends.

So join me on World Read Aloud Day, March 3rd, at Books, Inc. in San Francisco’s Laurel Village, from 6 – 7 PM for a bedtime story reading. I’ll be joined by my friends and fellow writer-mamas Lisa Harper and Nicki Richesin. Bring the kids in their pj’s for a fun evening outing!

“We are seeking proposals for chapters in follow-up to Exploring Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Teaching Disciplinary Habits of Mind (Stylus, 2009), under contract with Stylus Publishing. Each chapter should briefly introduce a discipline, provide a brief literature review of the scholarship of teaching and learning (or the lack thereof) in the discipline, describe and evaluate the discipline’s traditional pedagogies and practices, and articulate elements of existing or potential signature pedagogies. Each chapter will also be grounded in strong literature reviews and written in a lucid, engaging style.

Exploring Signature Pedagogies included chapters on history, literary studies, creative writing, music, visual and performing arts, geography, human development, psychology, sociology, agriculture, biology, computer science, mathematics, and physics. For this “sequel,” we are looking for considerations of other disciplines, inter-disciplines, and professions, such as the following:

o foreign language

o philosophy

o political science

o communication

o chemistry

o business/economics

o economics

o engineering

o anthropology

o social work

o interdisciplinary studies

o women’s studies

o new media studies

o education

o medicine

o nursing

o others?

Some of these fields have an existing literature on their signature pedagogy, so proposals should reflect a familiarity with these publications, as well as plans to summarize and extend this work. Completed chapters should be approximately 4,100 words, including works cited. Co-authored chapters are welcome.

Proposals are due on March 15 and should include a two-page (double-spaced) description of the chapter and a CV reflecting each author’s qualifications and experience with SoTL.

Proposals should be sent to nancy.chick AT uwc DOT edu. Questions and queries can be addressed to the editors Nancy Chick (nancy.chick AT uwc DOT edu), Aeron Haynie (haynieaATuwgbDOTedu), and Regan Gurung (gurungrATuwgbDOTedu).

The 2009 Stanton/Anthony Conversations: Mothers as Leaders: Contradictions & Challenges

Time: 1:15 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: Interfaith Chapel
Room: Sanctuary
Cost: FREE

I hadn’t really thought about the constraints of space and materials that visual artists work with until I watched Pamela Tanner Boll’s moving new documentary, Who Does She Think She Is? (2008), which introduces us to several mother-artists and asks why, when making art and raising children are both crucial for our culture, it is so hard to do both. The film wants us to know about these mothers making art, and it puts their stories in the larger context of all women artists. Like all women, women artists find their work less well-known and less well-compensated than the work of their male contemporaries. Like all mothers, mother artists endure isolation from their peers, sleep deprivation, and myriad claims on their time which make it difficult to continue their careers. But they do.

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The filmmakers are celebrating the DVD release by organizing house parties around the country on November 8th. Want to join them? You can buy the DVD at a 10% discount with a special promotional code for Literary Mama and Mama, PhD readers; just go the DVD online store and enter the promo code LitMama.

There’s more information about the house party idea here and here. Check it out, and then gather  your friends for a screening!

For a taste of their  work, you can check out this YouTube video from one of their past events:

In 2006, Cassandra Vasquez, a UC Riverside graduate student researcher, was shocked she didn’t qualify for maternity leave and surprised how little information there was on campus for soon-to-be mothers.

When seeking advice, a university official told her to take academic leave — a move that would have cut her off from everything from her student housing to library privileges. Instead, she spent hours researching options.

She worked out a solution, thanks in part to an understanding adviser. It has allowed her to, first, care for her daughter, and second, continue studying wasps as an alternative to pesticides. She expects to graduate in a year.

Hoping future graduate students won’t go through a similar situation, Vasquez and fellow graduate student/mom Genet Tulgetske have organized a panel discussion Wednesday about parenthood and academia.

Click here to read the rest! And contact us at editors AT mamaphd.com if you’d like us to come to your campus!

In appreciation for the hard work of mothers everywhere, MomsRising has made it possible for every mom to get a personalized Mother of the Year award — announced online in a faux news cast. Check it out! Send it to your favorite mothers so that they can be congratulated by President Obama, celebrated by Hollywood stars, praised by a remarkably articulate baby, and more. Make sure to check out the crawl under the newscast; they snuck in a nice little bit of educational content.

“Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out of. In fact, I will never see a cent from my case,” Ledbetter said. “But with the … president’s signature today, I will have an even richer reward. I know that my daughters and granddaughters and your daughters and your granddaughters will have a better deal.”