STUDENTS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING

Events for Students
The Graduate Student Committee has a number of events planned for students at the annual meeting this November in Chicago, including but not limited to a pre-conference workshop for graduate students, mentoring lunches for women and LGBTIQ students, and a variety of relevant roundtable discussions. You can check out a full list of events and sessions for students at the annual meeting online.

Needed: Reporters for Annual Meeting
Speaking of Students is looking for a few student volunteers who are willing to gather news at the annual meeting for the January issue.  The commitment is minimal. All it requires is agreeing to attend one event, take some notes and write a few paragraphs. Pick an event that interests you — the town hall meeting, the Saturday night party, one of the Religion Beyond the Boundaries lectures, a roundtable discussion at the student lounge — or come up with your own idea for covering the academic and social experience of students in Chicago. Those interested should contact the SOS editor Brandy Daniels at brandydaniels@gmail.com.

Students of Color: Subsidies Available for the Annual Meetings
AAR's Status of Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession Committee provides registration waivers to AAR student members of color who are presenting papers at the Annual Meeting in Chicago.

If you are a student of color on the AAR Annual Meeting program and who are not receiving institutional support, you are eligible to have your registration fees waived (or reimbursed). To apply for this assistance, please complete the short questionnaire no later than November 1, 2012.

2013 REGIONAL MEETINGS

The annual season of regional meetings is quickly approaching and now is the time to prepare. Regional meetings provide great opportunities to present papers, learn about cutting-edge research and meet fellow scholars the field. Plan on attending one (or more) of these excellent events now!

Additional News from the Regions

Eastern International
The Eastern International region does not yet have a location for the 2014 meeting. The Executive Committee of the EIR is hoping to develop a rotation of schools at which to hold our annual meeting, making the meeting dates and locations each year predictable for several years in the future. If your school would be interested in being a part of that rotation, please send an email to your regional student representative, Emma Brodeu, at embrodeu@syr.edu.

New-England-Maritime
The New-England-Maritime region does not have a student director. Interested students should contact the regional director, Grove Harris, at groveharris@post.harvard.edu for more information.

Ways of Knowing: A Graduate Conference on Religion
Harvard Divinity School
October 26-27, 2012
This graduate student conference will present research on religious practices of knowledge. Coming from a variety of theoretical, methodological and disciplinary approaches, paper presentations will explore epistemic practices and patterns, especially in relation to religious subjectivities, authorities, and experiences. Professor Rebecca Sachs Norris, Professor of Religious and Theological Studies at Merrimack College, will give the Keynote Address on Friday evening. For more information and to register please see our website.

Southeast
At the March 25th-26th 2012 SECSOR annual meeting in Atlanta, student members were well represented across the conference's sections with numerous papers presented. Also, a workshop discussing "Planning/Hosting Grad Student Conferences," facilitated by students from the University of Virginia, discussed experiences and best practices for inaugurating, funding, and implementing events for graduate students.

The AAR SE business meeting in Atlanta began a process of electing a Student Director for the AAR SE. Matthew Puffer, Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia, was elected as the first Student Director—a two-year position that includes responsibilities on the national AAR Graduate Student Committee (developing student programming at the Annual Meeting) and representing student concerns on the AAR SE Regional Board of Directors. If you have ideas for increasing opportunities for students, as well as addressing the needs of the student membership in the Southeast Region of the AAR, please email him at matthew.puffer@virginia.edu.

Recent and Upcoming Grad Student opportunities in the Southeast Region:
Come join us in lively downtown Greenville, South Carolina, for the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion (SECSOR) Regional Meeting on March 15-17, 2013!

The Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University is sponsoring an interdisciplinary symposium on "Death" — December 14 and 15, 2012. Undergraduate and Graduate students may submit abstracts for papers or presentations. Paper topics may include, but are not limited to, Death in Art, Death in Literature, the Sociology of Death, Death rites in modern and ancient civilizations, Death and Politics, the role of Religion in Death, Death and the Physical Sciences, Death and Ethics. Professional-level presentations, by scholars from a variety of fields, will be Friday, December 14, 2012. Student presenters are encouraged to attend the sessions Friday.

The 12th Annual Florida State University Graduate Student Symposium on "Politics of Religion" will be held February 22-24, 2013. Submissions, including a one-page CV, 300-word abstract, and list of key terms should be sent to fsureligionsymposium@gmail.com by December 1, 2012. 

The 2013 Virginia Graduate Colloquium on Theology, Ethics, and Culture welcomes submissions of original research from graduate students for an April 5-6, 2012 conference on the topic "Reckoning With Death: Humanity, Mortality and the Ends of Life." The colloquium organizers hope to foster a robust interdisciplinary discussion about how the fact of mortality structures our understanding of what it means to be human. They welcome papers that approach death from a variety of different angles. How do we properly conceive of the reality of our own death while we are yet living? What does the fact of human finitude teach us about the nature of human existence, especially for those who believe that death is not truly the end? How does ambivalence about death influence a society's practice of medicine, politics, and economics? Is it possible to face death well, as a society, in the absence of a consensus about the end—or ends—of life? Do religious traditions offer liturgical or scriptural resources that might shape one's conception of death in a salutary way?

Proposals in the form of a 250-word abstract are due on January 15th, 2013. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out on February 4th, 2012. Final papers, not to exceed 2000 words, must be submitted by March 4th, 2012. For more information, or to submit a proposal, email: vgc-tec@virginia.edu

The Buddhist Studies Group at the University of Virginia recently hosted "Buddhist Traditions: New Directions," the 2012 North American Graduate Student Conference in Buddhist Studies.  Held September 14-16, the event featured keynote speaker Gregory Schopen (UCLA/Brown), a MacArthur Grant recipient and pioneering scholar in early Mahayana Buddhism, as well as 14 research presentations by graduate students hailing from institutions across the continent.  Also featured was a panel on "Teaching Buddhism Today" that addressed the integration of contemplative pedagogies into the classroom. You can stream the conference events by visiting the Buddhist Studies Group at UVa website.

Upper Midwest
The Upper Midwest region is looking to fill the student director position for its 2013-2015 term. This is a two-year position as liaison between the UMAAR and AAR national Graduate Student Committee. The Student Director is an AAR Regional Officer.The student director must be in good standing in a graduate program in the region

Responsibilities include working with the SBL Student Director to plan events at the regional conference, attending the half-day Regional Officers' Meeting, which usually takes place in late May, writing a brief article for the AAR student publication about the regional meeting, and serving as a liaison between the UMAAR and the AAR national Graduate Student Committee

If you are interested, please contact Amy Marga, amarga@luthersem.edu , by May 1, 2013 with a paragraph describing who you are, where you are in graduate school along with your program and year, your future plans, and why you think you would be a great AAR student director.

Regional Student Directors
Need to get in touch with your regional student director, but don't know who that is? Here's a list, for your reference:

Southeast Region: Matthew Puffer, University of Virginia, matthew.puffer@virginia.edu

Eastern International: Emma Brodeur, Syracuse University, embrodeu@syr.edu

Mid-Atlantic: Scott Singer, Temple University, tuc73548@temple.edu

Southwest: Rachel Schneider, Rice University, rachel.s.vlachos@rice.edu

Pacific Northwest: Raj Balkaran, University of Calgary, raj.balkaran@gmail.com

Rocky Mountain-Great Plains: Gil Rosenberg, University of Denver/Iliff, School of Theology, grosenberg@iliff.edu

Upper Midwest: John Fournelle, Bethel Seminary, jjfournelle@gmail.com

Western: Kristy Slominski, University of California, Santa Barbara, slominski@umail.ucsb.edu

CALL FOR STUDENT DESK EDITOR – Deadline: October 31, 2012
Religious Studies News (RSN) is the newspaper of record for the field especially designed to serve the professional needs of persons involved in teaching and scholarship in religion (broadly construed to include religious studies, theology, and sacred texts). Published quarterly by the American Academy of Religion, RSN is received by some 10,000 scholars and by libraries at colleges and universities across North America. Religious Studies News communicates the important events of the field and related areas and examines critical issues in education, pedagogy (especially through the bi-annual Spotlight on Teaching) research, publishing, and the public understanding of religion. It also publishes news about the services and programs of the AAR and other organizations including employment services and registration information for the Annual Meeting and related activities.

For more information on how to submit your materials for the position, please see our student announcements.

AAR STUDENT FACEBOOK GROUP

Just a reminder that the Student Members and Friends of the American Academy of Religion Facebook is available for all members and friends of the AAR. Members have posted calls for papers, job listings, requests for more information, forthcoming publications, and more. Please join us on Facebook and keep up with graduate student events, news, opportunities, conversations, and useful resources. Free registration with Facebook required.

SEEKING NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you are involved with the coordination of an upcoming student-led conference or have some other opportunity for students about which you'd like to spread the word, please contact the editor at brandydaniels@gmail.com, for free publicity in the upcoming edition of Speaking of Students. SOS is distributed to each student member of AAR, thus ensuring that your announcement will enjoy a broad readership.

1. Students at the Annual Meeting
2. Regional News
3. Call for Student Desk Editor
4. AAR Student Facebook
5. Seeking News and Announcements

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