The Association for Jewish Studies is pleased to again offer an online summer writing group oriented towards women, transgender, and non-binary scholars of Jewish Studies. This program will be run by Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Distinguished Professor of History and the Viterbi Family Chair in Mediterranean Jewish Studies at UCLA. The group will meet for six Wednesdays in June and July (June 18, June 25, July 2, July 9, July 16, and July 23). The entire cohort will meet from 10–11 AM PST (1–2 PM EST) and small working groups will meet from 11:15 AM–12:15 PM PST (2:15–3:15 PM EST). This program is open to individuals with a PhD. There is a separate summer writing group (and separate application) for graduate students.
This program is open to individuals with a PhD. There is a separate summer writing group (and separate application) for PhD candidates.
Studies have shown that across the disciplines a significant gender gap exists in publishing: women, transgender, and non-binary scholars publish less than their cis-male counterparts (Ali 2019a, Dillard 2020, Imhoff 2019, Schiermeier 2019). The gendered publication gap expands for high-ranking journals with dire consequences: women, transgender, and non-binary scholars are not only less likely to be cited, but also are given less credit for the work they create (Ali 2019b, Kuo 2017, Teele 2019, Thompson 2019, West et. al. 2013). This makes women, transgender, and non-binary scholars less successful when it comes to advancement, hiring, and tenure, and contributes to the “leaky pipeline" (Hengel 2019).
To address this gap in publishing, the AJS has implemented a summer writing program designed specifically to provide extra support and encouragement for women, transgender, and non-binary scholars, with the goal of boosting submission rates. Overall, the goal of this group will attend to some of the key problems that cause women and LGBTQ scholars to submit fewer articles by (1) connecting people with mentors, (2) forging connections, (3) providing a supportive environment, (4) keeping people from feeling isolated, (5) breaking the cycle in which people respond to criticism by filing their work in a drawer and never looking at it again, and (6) building people’s publication skill sets.
This group is open to you whether you are finishing a journal article, fine-tuning a chapter, finishing a book prospectus, or any other genre of scholarly writing. Whatever your goal, we will use full group meetings to review/discuss practicalities of writing; commit to our own individual work schedules; exchange practical tips for setting goals, time management, strategic planning and more. In small group sessions, participants will meet virtually with three to four other people and exchange draft work. The goal of these smaller groups is to read each other’s work, give supportive feedback, and learn from each other’s triumphs and pitfalls.
• Applicants must be current AJS members for the 2025 membership year (January–December 2025).
• A PhD is required at time of application.
• If you participated in a previous AJS summer writing group, you are eligible to reapply. Preference, however, will be given to new participants.
Applicants should submit the application form with:
1) a current CV
2) the application form with contact information
3) a paragraph explaining why you would like to participate in the summer writing group and how it will advance your writing projects and publication agenda
Application Deadline: May 15, 2025
