Committees

• Misty Anderson, ASECS 2nd Vice President, co-chair; Professor of English, affiliate Professor of Theatre and Religious Studies, University of Tennessee
• Paola Bertucci, ASECS 1st Vice President, co-chair; Professor of History and History of Medicine; Curator-in-charge, History of Science and Technology Division, Peabody Museum, Yale University
• Manushag (Nush) Powell, ASECS Parliamentarian, ex officio, non-voting; Professor of English, Purdue University
• Benita Blessing, ASECS Executive Director, ex officio, non-voting
• George Boulukos, Professor of British Literature and Africana Studies, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
• Mark Boonshoft, Associate Professor of American History; Chair in American Constitutional History, Virginia Military Institute
• Jason Farr, Associate Professor of English, Marquette University
• Jennifer Germann, Regional Affiliate of Institute for European Studies, Cornell University, and Independent Scholar, British and French Art History, Women’s and Gender Studies 
• Monica Anke Hahn, Assistant Professor of Art History, Community College of Philadelphia
• Christy Pichichero, Associate Professor of History, French, and African and African American Studies, affiliated faculty in Women and Gender Studies and War and the Military in Society programs, George Mason University
• Chunjie Zhang, Associate Professor of German, affiliate faculty in Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, East Asian Studies, Critical Theory, Global Migration Center, and Religious Studies Graduate Group, UC Davis.

Charge: Identify areas of funding and financial development.
Joseph Bartolomeo, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Benita Blessing, ASECS Executive Director
Cathy Jaffe, Texas State University
Michael Lynn, Pacific University
Heather McPherson, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Charge: To support greater equity, inclusion, and accessibility for ASECS members, and to foster racial, ethnic, and gender diversity within the Society.

Chair: Sal Nicolazzo (English), Race and Empire Caucus
Jeremy Chow (Engish), Queer and Trans Caucus
Stephanie Hershinow (English), Women’s Caucus
Mehl Pemrose (Spanish and Portuguese), Member at Large
Meghan Roberts (History), Board Member
TBD: Disability Studies Caucus and Graduate Student/Early Career Studies Caucus

Note: The Harassment Committee (see this page) is responsible for receiving complaints from members; members may also use the services of ASECS’s external, neutral Ombuds.

Charge: Identifies best graduate student research essay prize and best graduate student conference paper.

Chair: Amy Freund, SMU
Anne Seul, Washington University at St. Louis
Helen Thompson, Northwestern University

Charge: Selects the best paper on a topic in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Asexual, or Queer Studies delivered at the ASECS Annual Meeting or a regional affiliate conference by a graduate student, an untenured faculty member, or an independent scholar.

Composition: Senior members of the Gay and Trans Caucus (and thus ineligible for the prize).

Deadline: Annually, Oct. 1 for papers presented in the previous 12 months.

Submissions Information

2023 Committee:
Chair, Susan Lanser, Brandeis University
Jason Farr, Marquette University
Kristina Straub, Carnegie Mellon

Charge: The Harassment Committee is charged with receiving complaints from any participant in an ASECS-sponsored activity who has experienced a violation of the harassment policy.

Chair: Susan Lanser, Brandeis University
Julia Fawcett (regular), University of California – Berkeley
Corinne Harol, English (regular)
David Alf, English (alternate), University of Buffalo
Luis Ramos (alternate), New York University

Note: ASECS also engages the services of an external, neutral Ombuds.

Members may submit proposals to demonstrate innovative undergraduate teaching.

Charge: Selects the best article on an eighteenth-century topic.

Submissions Information

2023 Committee
Chair: Jonathan Haddad, University of Georgia
Spencer Weinreich, Harvard Society
James Mulholland, North Carolina State University
Terry F. Robinson, University of Toronto

Charge: Selects the best book in eighteenth-century studies.

Submissions Information

2023 Committee
Chair: Sarah Benharrech, University of Maryland
Elaine McGirr, University of Bristol
Jared Richman, Colorado College

Charge: Advises the Executive Board and the Business Office on matters broadly related to communications and publications.

Composition: Executive Director (chair); one member at large; one Executive Board member; the editors of the two journals.

Chair, Benita Blessing, Executive Director
Emily Friedman, Auburn University
Craig Hanson, Calvin University
ECS editor: Ramesh Mallipeddi, University of British Columbia
SECC editor: David Brewer, The Ohio State University

Charge: Prepares a slate of ASECS members to run for various offices. The offices to be filled annually include the Second Vice-President and two positions as Members-at-Large.

2023 Committee
Chair: Nicole Aljoe, Northeastern University
Denise Baxter, University of North Texas
Anita Guerrini, Oregon State University emerita
Yann Robert, University of Illinois – Chicago

Charge: Assists the Business Office to plan the Annual Meeting.

Chair: Daniel O’Quinn, Guelph, Theater
Advisor for Accessibility, Disability, and Inclusion: Sarah Eron, University of Delaware, Inclusion
Dana Lew, University of Toronto, English/Graduate Student Member
Robert Paulett, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, History
Hanna Roman, Dickinson College, French

Note: Please contact Executive Director Benita Blessing for questions about the Annual Meeting (director@asecs.org).

Charge: Selects best article in previous academic year that “pushes the boundaries, geographical and conceptual, of eighteenth-century studies, especially by using a transnatianal, comparative, or cosmopolitan approach.”

Chair: Chloe Wigston Smith, material culture, University of York (UK)
Sarah Eyerly, Florida State, Music
Rachel Wheeler, IUPUI, Religion/History
Peggy Elliot, Georgia College, French

Committee:
Chair: Carole Martin, Texas State, French
Annelise Andries, Utrecht, Music
Amber Ludwig, Honolulu Museum of Art, Art History
Stephanie Insley Hershinow, CUNY, English

Charge: Awards ABDs and PhDs within one year of their completion $300 plus conference registration in order to attend the Annual Meeting.

2023 Committee:
Chair: Stephen Lazer, Arizona State, History
Aleksondra Hultquist, Stockton University
Enid Valley, Kalamazoo College

American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS): Elizabeth Kraft, University of Georgia (through 6/2027)

International Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS): Chunjie Zhang, University of California Davis (through 6/2025)