ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


642 / C&RL News

W omen’s studies scholar to speak at A CRL Sixth 
National C onference

C atherine R. Stimpson, the founding editor of 
Signs: Journal o f  W om en in Culture and Society, 
will speak on April 13, 1992, at the ACRL Sixth 
National Conference in Salt 
Lake City, Utah. Stimpson will 
address issues o f concern to 
women in a “politically cor­
rect” environment.

T he journal New Criterion 
called one of h e r speeches a 
“breathtaking exhibition of po ­
litica lly  c o rre c t a ttitu d e s .” 
Stimpson responds in the Point 
of View colum n in th e  May 29,
1991, issue o f the Chronicle o f  
H igher Education, “The mis­
use o f the term  ‘politically cor­
rect’ o r  P.C. is arhetorical virus 
t h a t  h as b e e n  s p re a d in g  
through higher education and 
the m edia so rapidly th at it is 
n e a rly  com ic se lf-p a ro d y .” N oted scholar C
Stimpson has been called “left,” will speak on is
“dom inant,” “smug,” “intoler­ w om en a t the A
ant,” and “trendy.” She writes, 
“I found an anonymous note in my departm ental 
mailbox warning me, ‘M ultieulturalism is a fad.”’

Stimpson is university professor, dean of the 
G raduate School, and vice provost for graduate 
education at Rutgers, the State University o f New 
Jersey/New Brunswick. Now the editor of a book 
series for the University of Chicago Press, she 
served as the founding editor o f Signs from  1974- 
80. She was the first director o fth e  W om en’s C enter 
of Barnard College and of the Institute for Research 
on W om en at Rutgers.

T he author o f a novel, Class Notes (1979,1980), 
and editor of seven books, she has also published

over 125 monographs, essays, stories, and reviews 
in such places as Transatlantic Review, Nation, New  
York Times Book Review, Critical Inquiry, and 

B oundary 2. A selection of 
essays, Where the Meanings 
Are, appeared in 1988. H er 
book on G ertrude Stein is 
u n d e r contract to th e  Univer­
sity o f Chicago Press.

Professor Stimpson has lec­
tu re d  at over 275 institutions 
and events in the United States 
and abroad. H e r public ser­
v ice  h a s in c l u d e d  th e  
chairpersonships of the New 
York State Council for the 
H u m a n itie s , th e  N ational 
C o u n c il fo r R e se a rc h  on 
W omen, and th e  Ms. Maga­
zine B oard o f Scholars. In 
1990 she was the president of 

atherine Stimpson th e  M odem  Language Asso­
sues o f  concern to ciation. She is now the chair 
C R L  conference. o f the National Advisory Com­

m ittee of the W oodrow W il­
son National Fellowship Foundation.

E ducated at Bryn Mawr College, Cambridge 
University, and Columbia University, she holds 
honorary degrees from Upsala College, M onm outh 
College, and Bates College. She has also won 
Fulbright and Rockefeller Humanities Fellowships.

Prelim inary program  and registration materials 
for the Sixth National C onference in Salt Lake City 
will be available in November. T he advance confer­
ence registration rate for ACRL m em bers is $135 
and $255 for non-m em bers. Additional informa­
tion is available from the ACRL office, (800) 545- 
2433, ext. 2516. ■  ■

N e ed  a n ew  director?

Recruiting the Academic Library Directoris now 
available from ACRL as a companion piece to  The 
Search Comm ittee Handbook: A  Guide to Recruit­
ing Administrators ‚ published in 1987 by the Ameri­
can Association for Higher E ducation. ACRL m em ­
b e r authors Sharon Rogers and Ruth Person have 
applied many o f the principles and procedures 
outlined in the Handbook to the specific task of

recruiting a library director. T he two publications 
are available as a set (ISBN 0-8389-7484-8) to 
ACRL m em bers for $13.95, to non-m em bers for 
$16.95, and to ALA m em bers at a 10 p ercent 
discount. Call, write, or fax the ALA O rd e r D epart­
m ent, 50 E. H uron St., Chicago, IL  60611; phone: 
800-545-2433, ext. 5014; fax: (312) 440-9374 for 
your copies.