WIGS Planning Committee (Left to right) Alana Ayasse, Erin Wetherley, Brandi Gamelin, Janet Franklin (visiting speaker), Sarah Shivers, Nina Bingham, and Jacky Banks
What has WIGS been up to this year? WIGS (Women in Geographical Sciences) seeks to support and empower women pursuing careers in geography through formal and informal activities aimed at sharing knowledge and building community, camaraderie, and professional networks. To this aim, we have hosted a whole plethora of events over the course of the 2016-2017 academic year including panel discussions with our women faculty, invited speakers, mini-book clubs, and socials! We had our first ever WIGS-hosted colloquium speaker, Janet Franklin who is a UCSB Geog Alum! Janet met with department graduate students to discuss careers and life after UCSB Geography and also give a great colloquium on California forest response to climate change. We also had a wonderful coffee hour discussion with Kelly Carlisle, the inspiring founder and director of the non-profit youth urban farm project Acta Non Verba. In addition to outside speakers, we had an in-house panel discussion with all our women faculty including, Helen Couclelis, Catherine Gautier, Jennifer King, Leila Carvalho, Susie Cassels, Liz Chrastil, and Vena Chu, who met with the larger WIGS community discussing career-life balance and being a woman in academia. We also hosted book-club-esque discussions on articles pertaining to implicit bias and women advocacy. Lastly, we had a fantastic turnout for our International Women’s Day brunch social to celebrate. If you missed any of the events this year, don’t fear! WIGS will be back next fall and we are always looking for new members and more participation from the department. Look for announcements via email and at colloquium in the beginning of the school year for opportunities and events. If you’re interested in joining the listserv for more information or interested in joining the core WIGS planning committee, please email us at ucsb.geog.wigs@gmail.com.
