Committees

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

Rules:

• Two nominees are proposed by each of these five caucuses, and the Board chooses one nominee each of those proposed: Women’s Caucus, Queer/Trans Caucus, Disability Studies Caucus, Race and Empire Caucus, Graduate Student/Early Career Scholar Caucus

• The Executive Board appoints a board member to the committee

• The Executive Board appoints one member-at-large to the committee

• One member should be a contingent faculty member
• Appointments are for 3 years, with the exception of the GS/ECS representative who serves 2 years

• The Executive Board member serves 2 years as well

2025-2026 Committee
Chair and Member at Large, Mehl Penrose
Executive Board Member, Olivia Sabee
Disability Studies Caucus, Michael Reznicek
Graduate Student/Early Career Studies Caucus, Annie Schultz
Women’s Caucus, Lillian Lu
Race and Empire Caucus, Michael Berlin
Queer and Trans Caucus, Cass Turner

Note: The Anti-Harassment Committee (see this page) is responsible for receiving complaints from members.

Charge: Selects the author of the best book-length biography of a late seventeenth-century or eighteenth-century subject 

Rules: Awarded bianually

Submissions information

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, David Alff
· Rebecca Haidt
· Robert Paulett

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.

Rules:

• Composed of three members. The Executive Director serves ex-officio (non-voting). One of the members should have been a former board member
• Terms are for three years; staggered
• The committee chooses its own chair

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Susan Lanser
· Julia Fawcett
· Luis Ramos
antiharassment@asecs.org

Charge:

• Publicizes all ASECS awards and award deadlines
• Coordinates with the Executive Director all awards, including liaising with caucus award committees
• Compiles ASECS awards recipients and award announcements prior to the annual meeting for presentation at the annual meeting awards ceremony, including caucus awards
• Prepares ASECS award announcements for inclusion in the ASECS News Circular and hosts online events featuring award winners
• Periodically reviews all awards, in consultation with the Treasurer, for sufficient funding levels, numbers of applicants, and relevance to the continued work of members of the Society

Rules:

• The Committee on Awards will be composed of three members, including the Chair
• The Chair will be appointed by the President from the elected members of the Board; the remaining two committee members will be appointed by the Board
• Committee members will organize the work of the committee by assigning one member to oversee/coordinate the book Prizes, one member to oversee/coordinate the article and essay awards and coordinate prizes awarded by the caucuses, and one member to coordinate travel, pedagogy, and jam pot awards
• The Chair of the Committee on Awards reviews all awards proposed to ensure they are compliant with all relevant protocols, memoranda of understanding, and/or fund restrictions before referring them to the Executive Director for processing

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Mattie Burkert
· Piper Milton, graduate student member
· Jason Shaffer

Charge:

• Organize mentoring and career development sessions at the annual conference
• Organize online career mentoring sessions by career stage during the year
• Plan and host events designed to support scholarly research and pedagogical excellence, and career exploration and advancement e.g. book manuscript workshops, book proposal workshops, article workshops, cv/resumé workshops, pedagogical seminars, new methods for research and teaching workshops, etc.
• Rules:
• The Careers and Mentorship Committee will be composed of three members, one of whom should be a graduate student or an early career member. The most senior member of the committee will serve as Chair.
• The Careers and Mentorship Committee will plan for and host a minimum of four (4) events per calendar year, at least one of which, and ideally more than one, must take place at the Annual Meeting

2025-2026 Committee
Chair, Yota Batsaki
Emily Spunaugle
Bethany Qualls

Charge: Identify areas of funding and financial development.

Composition: Treasurer, Executive Director, and 2-3 members

Deadlines and Timeframe: The Committee meets regularly throughout the year.

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Joseph Bartolomeo
· Michael Lynn (ex-officio)
· Benita Blessing(ex-officio)
· Jeremy Webster

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

Rules: A graduate student may be part of this committee

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee reviews submissions to Graduate Student Research Essay Prize, usually due Jan. 1, for papers submitted in the previous 12 months. It reviews submissions for the Graduate Student Conference Paper, due 2 weeks after the Annual Meeting.

2025-2026 Committee

• Jonathan Haddad
• Adam Schoene
• Helena Yoo-Roth

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.

Rules:

• Members are the senior members of the Gay and Trans Caucus who are ineligible for the prize

• Given annually

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee reviews submissions for the prize annually, usually due Oct. 1, for papers presented in the previous 12 months.

Submissions Information

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Susan Lanser
· Jason Farr
· Kristina Straub

Charge: Selects the most innovative examples of undergraduate teaching.

Composition: 3 members.

Rules:

• Three winners are chosen, who then comprise the following year’s committee; they pick their own chair.

• Winners present at the next year’s Annual Meeting on an ASECS-sponsored session.

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee reviews submissions for the prize annually in the fall.

Submission information

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Steven Thomas
· Juliette Paul
· Linda Troost

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

Rules: One returning member becomes chair; the previous year’s prize winner is asked to serve as well.

Submissions Information

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee reviews submissions for the prize annually, due on Jan. 1.

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Masano Yamashita
· Terry Robinson
· Douglas Fordham

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

Rules:

• Members of the committee should have published a monograph-length publication. The Gottschalk winner is invited to join the committee.

• One committee member usually serves in the next year as chair.

Submissions Information

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee reviews submissions for the prize annually, usually due on Nov. 1.

2025-2026 Committee
Chair: Amelia Rauser
Logan Connors
Rachel Carnell

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

Rules:

• The Executive Director is a permanent member and chair

• Two editors – one from each journal – are permanent members

• If there is a webmaster, that person is on the committee

• A member of the Executive Board serves a two-year term

• The Executive Board appoints a member-at-large to serve a two-year term

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee meets as needed throughout the year.

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Benita Blessing, Executive Director
· Executive Board Member, Al Coppola
· ECS editor, Ramesh Mallipeddi
· SECC editor George Boulukos
· Nicole M. Wright

Charge:

• Devise and implement strategies for the recruitment of new members, especially early career scholars

• Develop welcoming and retention strategies for new and continuing members

• Conduct outreach and field questions related to membership

• Conduct periodic surveys of membership interests, professional needs, and overall satisfaction with the Society and its benefits.

Rules:

• The Membership Committee will be composed of three members, with the most senior member serving as Chair. 

2025-2026 Committee
Chair, Paul Kelleher
Brian Cowan
Myriam Iuorio
Chloe Nothrop

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.

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committees solicits and reviews candidates for service on the Executive Board annually. The report to the Executive Director is usually due in the fall.

Rules:

• Member may be asked to serve as chair a second year, but not mandatory.

• Special attention should be given to as broad and effective a committee as possible.

• Executive Director and Parliamentarian provide instructions and support throughout the process.

• 2025-2026 Committee
• Chair, Jennifer Germann
• Jeremy Chow
• ·Catherine Jaffe
• ·Benjamin Pauley

Charge:

• The Program Committee plans the content part (not the logistic part) of the Annual Meeting along with the ASECS Office.

• Review proposals and make recommendations in conjunction regarding events and activities.
• They recommend whether proposals for the Arts, Theater and Music (ATM) fund should be funded, in consultation with ASECS Office.

Rules:

• The chair has usually served on the previous year’s committee.

• One member must be either a graduate student or a contingent faculty member.

• This committee must be appointed by the President and receive its charge no later than mid-April.

• Program Committee members receive free registration for the Annual Meeting that they organize.

• Members may be asked to help Executive Director arrange for local events if they are local, but it is not a requirement.

• One member serves as a Disability, Accessibility, and Inclusion advisor.

Deadlines/Timeframe:

• The committee reviews submissions for the Program to the Annual Meeting, usually due in the summer.
• It helps prepare the schedule and program for distribution 2-3 months before the Annual Meeting.

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Hanna Roman
· Accessibility Coordinator, Tekla Babyak,
· Monica Hahn
· Robert Paulett
· Michele Pflug

Note: Please contact Executive Director 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 transnational, comparative, or cosmopolitan approach.”

Rules: A member may serve as chair the following year.

Deadlines and Timeframe: The committee reviews submissions for the prize annually, due on Jan. 1.

Submission information

· Chair, Valentina Tikoff
· Sarah Benharrech
· Blanca Missé

Charge: Reviews proposals to the ASECS travel awards to the conference for the General Fund, the Non-Tenure-Track Fund, the Graduate Student Fund, and the IASECS Fund. It also reviews proposals for research travel.

Rules: Chair usually has served in previous year

Deadline and Timeframe:

• For research fellowships, the committee reviews submissions annually, usually due Jan. 1.
• For travel grants, the committee reviews submissions for funding annually, due 4-6 months before the Annual Meeting.

2025-2026 Committee
· Chair, Barbara Abrahms
· David Mazella
· Jason Shaffer

American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS): Nush Powell, Arizona State University (through 2029)

The ACLS delegate helps the Executive Director maintain and nurture the relationship between ACLS and ASECS, attends the annual ACLS meeting, writes report for the news circular

Rules: The ACLS delegate serves for up to 4 years.

International Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS): Susan Carlile, CSU Long Beach (through 6/2027)

Charge: The ASECS member delegate attends the ISECS conference (whether the small board meeting or large conference) every year and is expected to provide a brief report on the ISECS Meeting for publication in the fall ASECS News Circular, and a longer report on the quadrennial ISECS Congress.

Rules: The ISECS delegate usually serves for 2 years, timed to attend 2 of the meetings if possible. The beginning and end of term might thus not coincide with the ASECS member year. Some meetings may be held virtually in the future.