2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

This Lightning Session asks the question: "Is Service the Housework of Academia?" The question implies that despite its importance in the daily work of universities, certain kinds of labor, construed as service rather than teaching or research, remains undervalued. Moreover, this labor is increasingly implicated in practices that overwork and under-reward university staff. The session purposefully connects the type of work that gets done in academia and across campus and the reality of tenure and promotion as well as rates of pay.

I conceived this panel, at first,  as focusing on faculty. The idea for it was a response, in part, to popular culture references to "office housework" (See Grant and Sandberg, “Madam  C.E.O, Get Me a Coffee,” NYT, Feb. 6, 2015). But, the feedback my idea garnered -- from an H-Net call for contributors as well as from colleagues not on this panel -- came from men and women in different roles and with distinct labor conditions than my own as an associate professor. Thus, the panel contributors look at service as it is done by administrators, graduate students, librarians as well as faculty (tenure line as well as contingent). We seek to broaden discussions about service by defining it and coming to terms with its history. My comment will look at how service in academia has changed over time by assessing what impact the increased number of women has had as well as the domination of a corporate model on university life. 

We welcome additional panelists.