Organization: Midwest Sociological Society (www.themss.org)

Due Date: November 1st, 2008

Jane Adams Award

Website: http://www.themss.org/opportunities-mssopportunities.html

The Women in the Profession Committee invites nominations for the Jane Addams Outstanding Service Award. Service to girls and women has traditionally been invisible and under-rewarded in society and in the discipline of sociology. This award is one effort to reward and make visible such efforts and to highlight positive role models who advance girls and women’s issues, causes, or status through personal involvement in service activities. Named after Jane Addams, this award will recognize, highlight, and award a modern-day individual who embodies the passion, dedication, and activism of Jane Addams in his or her efforts to improve the status of girls or women. Individuals may receive the award for a sustained record of service to girls or women or for an intensive, short-term effort on behalf of girls or women. Award recipients may have performed such service inside or outside the academy, in the Midwest, or beyond.

Nominations require a 1-2 page letter. Letters must clearly indicate the way in which the nominee has contributed to the lives of girls or women, either in the academy or in specified communities, and should also indicate why these contributions are award-worthy. All current members of MSS are eligible to receive this award. Individuals may nominate themselves or others. Nominators need not be MSS members. Nomination letters should also include email, phone, and mailing contact information for the nominee. Nominations for the 2009 award are due by November 1, 2008.

Upon receipt of the nomination, the Award Coordinator will contact the nominee by email and request the following additional documentation: Current curriculum vitae, brief statement of service philosophy regarding girls or women's issues, information about the service for which he/she is nominated, and two letters of support (one of which one should be from the community service agencies (or colleagues/former students if the service has been academic) with whom the nominee has worked). Letters of support need not be included in the packet mailed to the Award Coordinator. All documentation is due by January 10 , 2009.

The Women in the Profession Committee will make selection based on the following criteria:

  • Service philosophy statement (clear articulation of service philosophy, evidence of action combined with theory)
  • Strength of service (possible measures include amount of commitment (time, level); strength of letters of support; sustainability—if applicable; originality)
  • Vitae (possible measures include indication of service as long-term commitment; service integrated with scholarship)
    • Letters of nomination will be kept on file. All non-awarded nominees will be asked to resubmit updated documentation for consideration for the following year for no more than 3 years. 

     

Awardee will be recognized in the following manner:

    • Recipient will be presented with the award at the Annual Meeting in Des Moines, Iowa.
    • Recipient will receive a commemorative plaque.
    • Recipient will receive a $300 contribution in his or her name to a service organization (broadly defined) to which they have contributed their time, effort and energies. 
    • WIPC will submit an article to the TMS about the winner.

 

All nominations and supporting documentation should be sent electronically to the Award Coordinator: Christina.D.Weber@ndsu.edu. Letters of support may be sent by email, fax, or postal mail to: Christina D. Weber, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Emergency Management, North Dakota State University, PO Box 5075 , Fargo, ND 58105 . Phone number: (701) 231-8928 . Fax number: (701) 231-1047.