Call for Nominations: Western Society for French History Mission Prize

The Western Society for French History is pleased to announce the creation of the annual Mission Prize. Candidates for the Prize can self-nominate or be nominated by someone else. Nominations are due 15 December each year. All nominees will be invited to submit a cover letter and a CV for review. Shortlisted nominees will be asked for more materials. Further details and instructions for submissions can be found at https://www.wsfh.org/prizes-and-grants.

Description:

A crucial part of the WSFH’s mission is to help foster an educational community that is actively committed to achieving equity and inclusion in the production and transmission of knowledge about the francophone world. To that end, the WSFH Mission Prize recognizes teachers and scholars who are doing outstanding work to combat structural inequalities in the field of French History, the profession, and their home institutions, broadly construed. By celebrating individuals who are developing tools and practices that challenge inequity, oppression, and discrimination, not only through research but also through teaching, mentoring, and professional leadership, the WSFH Mission Prize proudly signals the Western’s belief that such work is an essential part of what it means to be an exemplary citizen and educator. The WSFH Mission Prize offers a $2000 cash award. Up to three winners will be selected in its 2021-2022 inaugural year.

Rationale:

The WSFH acknowledges that all forms of professional activity—teaching, mentoring, student advocacy, exhibitions, activism, institutional leadership, and publishing—are vital to the enterprise of higher education and to society at large. The WSFH Mission Prize celebrates and rewards high achievement in any combination of the above activities in so far as they demonstrate the ideals of equity, inclusivity, and diversity encapsulated in the WSFH mission statement.

The Mission Prize aims to institutionalize validation for this kind of work in the field of French and Francophone History. The Prize embodies the Western’s commitment to recognize educators and scholars who prioritize equity and inclusion—values that are too often marginalized in traditional academic settings—and the Western’s willingness to invest real resources to give full force to that recognition.

Eligibility Requirements:

Nominees must have been employed in the past twelve months at an educational institution that engages with French and Francophone History such as a museum, archive, library, or institution of higher education (research university, liberal arts college, community college, etc.). Research/ instructional or administrative/professional faculty, adjuncts, lecturers, clinical professors, professors of practice, and tenure-line professors (assistant, associate, full) will all be considered. Nominees must have earned a Master’s degree or above

Nomination and Submission Process:

Candidates for the Prize can self-nominate or be nominated by someone else. Nominations are due 15 December each year. All nominees will be invited to submit a cover letter and a CV for review. Shortlisted nominees will be asked for more materials. Further details and instructions for submissions can be found here.

Questions may be directed to wsfhmissionprize@wsfh.org.