Women's Studies hires Kozol for tenure position

Wendy Kozol chosen to fill vacant advanced tenure-track position

After its faculty search was criticized in controversial anonymous fliers, the Women's Studies Program selected Visiting Assistant Professor of History Wendy Kozol to fill the vacant advanced tenure-track position within the department.

"I'm very excited, very proud," Kozol said about her new position.

Controversy arose last semester concerning the Women's Studies Program Committee's search process when anonymous fliers criticizing the search were posted around campus while candidates for the unfilled advanced tenure-track position visited Oberlin.

The fliers accused the program committee of "not interviewing a qualified woman of color" and "setting up a tokenized woman of color in the current interview process."

Kozol said the fliers were "personally, incredibly painful." She also denounced the anonymity of the postings and said, "the timing was really disgusting."

"I thought the anonymity was a very damaging way to handle a protest. I thought they were scurrilous attacks," Kozol said.

With the search for a new professor to fill the second position vacancy underway, Kozol is optimistic about the future. She said the second position's requirements cater to younger candidates who may not have finished their dissertations yet or are directly out of school.

Junior Heather West, a student representative on the Women's Studies program committee said there may have been some truth to the accusation. The posters addressed what was "maybe problematic in how the search was done," West said at a Women's Studies student meeting Wednesday.

Phyllis Gorfain, professor of English and director of the Women's Studies Program, said the new advanced tenure-track position was created when the College Faculty Council authorized the position in the spring of 1994.

The person offered the position last spring turned down the offer, and because the position was not filled, a new one-year position was created. Visiting Professor of Women's Studies Anna Agathangelou took this position.

A second, junior tenure-track position was unexpectedly vacated by former Assistant Professor Brinda Rao 10 days before the beginning of the fall semester. Subsequently, Rao's fall semester classes were cancelled. Teaching the Women's Studies practicum class demanded familiarity with Lorain County, so a local professor with Women's Studies expertise, Diana Kahn, was hired for the visiting professorship.

Jodykia Virdi, visiting professor of Women's Studies, was chosen for the full time position in the Women's Studies program to teach classes vacated by the resignation of Brinda.

There is a "terrific pool for the second position," Kozol said.

"Women's Studies has had a lot of turnover, but it's an exciting time," Kozol said.

"Hopefully next fall we will be returning with two continuing faculty in tenure-track positions," Gorfain said.

"We've been so fortunate with [visiting professors] who have come to help us," Gorfain said.

Kozol said she is excited to see the junior position and other openings in various departments related to Women's Studies filled so as to improve the continuity, diversity and consistency of the program.