Graduate Student and Contingent Faculty Caucus (GCC)

Welcome to the Graduate Student and Contingent Faculty Caucus (GCC) webpage!

The GCC is a community within the ISSN that supports and represents the interests of graduate students, early career scholars, and other scholars with unstable or precarious employment status. The caucus aims to provide a wide range of professional activities and resources for its membership, and is led by elected representatives who work closely with (but are independent of) the ISSN executive council.

 

The Caucus’s initiatives include but are not limited to:

  • Identifying the diverse needs of members

  • Providing a space for members to discuss professional interests, raise concerns, and seek advocacy

  •  Establishing mentorship relationships within the ISSN

  •  Providing professionalization opportunities

  • Assisting new scholars in integrating into the field of narrative studies

 

All ISSN members who identify as graduate students or as “contingent-employment scholars” (scholars with little or no institutional support, or who hold short-term or other unstable appointments at academic institutions) are de facto members of the Caucus. We welcome members of all backgrounds, nationalities, and beliefs. All members are invited to participate in our group’s email listserv and in our annual meeting at the ISSN Annual Conference. If you are a member of our Caucus, welcome!

 

Caucus Listserv 

The Caucus manages a listserv separate from the larger narrative-l listserv, which can be used by members to discuss any Caucus-related matters. Members who would like to sign up for our email listserv can do so by sending an email to issn-gcc+subscribe@googlegroups.com. A verification email will be sent to you. If you have a Google account, you can also manage your membership after signing up at https://groups.google.com/g/issn-gcc/.

 

Entrance Survey 

Members are encouraged to fill out our entrance survey, which will help us to assess our membership’s needs and interests and allow us to develop more impactful programming. The survey also provides an opportunity to suggest future initiatives or inform the caucus of professional issues you may be facing within or related to the field of narrative studies. If you believe there is a way that our caucus could assist you, please let us know!

Mentorship Program

In partnership with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the ISSN, the GCC runs a mentorship program to match Caucus members with senior ISSN members. Participants will be paired based on professional interests and other mentee needs, with the expectation that mentors and mentees will meet one-on-one. This can be an opportunity to build your professional network, meet scholars in your area of expertise, and develop relationships that can last well beyond the conference weekend.  

The program is annual, running each calendar year.

If you are a Caucus member interested in participating in this program, please visit this page.

 

Executive Committee 

The 2024-25 GCC executive committee consists of:

President: Ella Mingazova, University of Liège and KU Leuven

Vice President: Emma McNamara, The Ohio State University

Member-At-Large: Alice Gaber, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Member-At-Large:  Ellen Stenstrom, Indiana University (Bloomington)

 

Caucus Constitution

The GCC’s organizational constitution can be found here.