Pronouns at WUDPAC: Stakeholder Roles in the Process of Effecting Change
Pronouns at WUDPAC: Stakeholder Roles in the Process of Effecting Change is a case study of radical change in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. When three non-binary students joined the 2022 cohort, there was a need to educate and advocate for the understanding and use of gender-neutral pronouns. Through discussing the triumphs and struggles of this endeavor from both the student advocate and senior leadership perspectives, we hope to elucidate different ways of advocating for personal needs in a professional setting. Questions examined will include: What does it mean to educate others about personal needs and advocate for yourself? Are there boundaries? How do you manage these boundaries in a professional space? What were the short-term and long-term personal impacts that grew from this advocacy experience? What are the leadership opportunities and challenges when people are advocating for change? Are there different strategies for working with folks inside and outside of a professional community when change impacts internal and external communication? Did the WUDPAC program meet internal or external resistance to this change and if so how was it addressed?
Please note that this program will take place over two days:
January 24th, 2pm-3pm ET: Webinar/Q&A with speakers
January 25th, 2pm-3pm ET: Discussion session
Pronouns at WUDPAC: Stakeholder Roles in the Process of Effecting Change is the third session in CCAHA's Let's Talk About That: Dialogue and Change in Collections Care series. The aim of this series is to assist in building a DEIA infrastructure within collections care that can be sustainable beyond this moment in history. Each session will focus on a different issue facing the field and will be comprised of two components: a traditional webinar with a speaker highlighting their own observations in the field, and- the following day- a community dialogue led by facilitator, Sarah Pharaon. The goal is not to present a definitive guidebook on these topics, but rather to build this guide together as a community. As each topic is discussed and processed as a group, key takeaways will be compiled and used to build a publicly-available resource document that can serve as a toolkit for individuals looking to begin or expand this work at their own organizations.
The toolkit will be continually updated throughout the duration of this program- click here to explore the sections that have been released thus far, or visit our event page to register for other sessions in this series.
About the Speakers:
Margalit Schindler (they/them), WUDPAC Preventive Conservation Fellow
Margalit (they/them) is currently a graduate fellow in preventive conservation at the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation and is spending their Third-Year Fellowship with CCAHA. Margalit graduated from Kent State University in 2014 after studying Art History and Metalworking. Since then, they have worked for several conservation labs, including The Cleveland Museum of Art and ICA Art Conservation. They are working to combine preventive conservation and social justice, supporting traditionally marginalized collections by sharing information and empowering others. A passion for Jewish culture has led to a focus in studying and impacting the preservation of Judaica in collections around the United States. You can find more about their graduate work here.
Dr. Joelle Wickens (she/her), Assistant Professor of Preventive Conservation, and Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation Associate Director, University of Delaware
Joelle (she/her) is currently an Assistant Professor of preventive conservation in the Art Conservation Department, University of Delaware, USA, and the Associate Director of the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. Her current work in preventive conservation is dedicated to evolving the practice of the specialty to place social, economic, and environmental sustainability at its core. She is a daughter, sibling, wife, parent, educator, mentor, student, facilitator, preventive conservator…. Others identify her as disabled. She prefers phrases like, uses a wheelchair to navigate when outside of her home.