The Provost’s Office and W&M Libraries offer a twice-yearly (January/May) Writers’ Retreat in Swem Library. The purpose of the retreat is to give faculty uninterrupted time to work on a specific writing project, complete research, edit a manuscript, or prepare a grant proposal. The retreat provides quiet space in Swem Library, along with food, beverages, and (perhaps most importantly) STRUCTURE. Last week, Swem Library hosted the January writers' retreat. William & Mary faculty members, staff, and doctoral candidates flooded the library with their computers, papers, and minds swimming with deadlines and goals. They left with successes, ideas, library resources, and new connections.
Throughout the week, I spoke to a few participants about what they were working on during the retreat.
Bethany Smith
Marine Educator at Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences and VIMS
"This week I’m working on two main items. The first is a manuscript for a pilot study that I’m doing with a colleague at VIMS. We’re looking at the pathways that people take to careers in ocean sciences. We found that there is little to no research that looks at what age people make the decision to go into these career fields, what amount of education they have, and those sorts of things. What we’ve done is looked at people that are currently employed in the field of ocean sciences and asked them to reflect back on when they made the decision. Our research is really looking at the commonalities in those experiences, so that as a marine educator I can target those experiences that are most impactful at creating pathways into these careers for future students. The other thing I’m working on is a grant request to fund an Artist-in-Residence program at VIMS. I'm looking at ways to translate and communicate the research and the science that our researchers do to the general public in a more accessible way.”
Leya Deickman
Associate Director of Residence Life, Doctoral Candidate
“I actually attend school at Liberty online. My supervisor allowed me to come to work on my own personal doctoral work and have an awesome professional development opportunity. I’ve started the dissertation phase and I’m doing my research proposal. This week is about getting my proposal done so I can defend it and go into the research phase. My doctoral proposal is on the employee mass exodus when university presidents transition.”
Jason Chen
Professor, School of Education
“Mostly I’m working on a revise and resubmit. I submitted something to a journal and it got sent back to me saying to make revisions and then we can consider it for publication. Major revisions were needed, so it’s kind of high stakes for me, I’ve got to make sure I address these things. I had to decide whether it was going to be worth it or not [to revise and resubmit]. We’re at the end now, it’s Friday, and my team has decided that we’re going to submit it and looking pretty confident.”
Maureen Elgersman Lee
Director, W&M Bray School Lab, Office of Strategic Cultural Partnerships
“I’m working on an article on the Williamsburg Bray School and I’m looking at the relationship between the trustees of the Bray School and the benefactors in London and how the children, most of whom were enslaved, who went to the school were unwittingly caught in this relationship - this transatlantic transactional relationship. I’m focusing on the word “scholar” throughout the correspondence between Williamsburg and London. The term “scholar” is frequently used to describe the children. I’m unpacking the term “scholar” in the different ways that the term reflects the multilayers of this relationship which became increasingly diplomatically hostile. I’m thinking about the scholars as children and students, but also most of them are chattel, so that chattel status plays into what’s happening in this relationship...also looking at how the contemporary descendant community is reclaiming the term “scholar” or expanding it to reflect the resilience of the children and how they navigated this school that was delivering education, but delivering a very pro-slavery education.”