Gerard Holmes
Election
Position
Name
Gerard Holmes
Candidate statement
I want to join the Board of Directors because of what the Emily Dickinson International Society has done for me, and what I might do for EDIS. I joined the year I applied to graduate school. Since then, EDIS has been central to the development of my scholarly work. I attended the 2016 triennial conference in Paris, presenting some initial thoughts about Dickinson and musical improvisation. That year, and again in 2017, I was fortunate to participate in Dickinson Critical Institutes. These experiences allowed me to test out the ideas that eventually drove my dissertation, and that I developed into published essays. Last spring I completed a dissertation, “‘Discretion in the Interval’: Emily Dickinson’s Musical Performances,” at the University of Maryland, College Park. I would like to stay connected with EDIS, and to support its work. I would bring a couple of unusual qualities to the Board.
First, I have considerable experience managing, developing programs and events, and fundraising for small nonprofits. Currently, in addition to teaching, I manage operations for a small foundation that funds neuroscience education, so I am also learning nonprofits from the funder’s perspective. Second, during my time in graduate school I engaged with graduate-student advocacy, public humanities, and alternative career-path preparation, both at Maryland, where I founded a student group, Humanities Beyond the Academy, and in professional associations like the MLA and ACLA. This recent experience in the doctoral-study trenches, and my work in non-tenure-track positions, could provide a useful perspective on fostering and supporting participation by graduate-students, adjuncts, and independent scholars.
I have organized panels and presented on Dickinson, music, and improvisation at the Modern Language Association, the Northeast Modern Language Association, the Society for the Study of American Women Writers, the Popular Culture Association, and other conferences. I remain engaged with Dickinson studies post-PhD. In addition to publications in The Emily Dickinson Journal and Reception, I recently co-edited (with the amazing Samantha Landau) a special issue of Women’s Studies with the theme “New Directions in Dickinson and Music.” The Oxford Handbook of Emily Dickinson, forthcoming this spring, includes a chapter on my research. In March, I led two Virtual Poetry Discussion Groups sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum. I am currently at work on a monograph that expands on my dissertation.
First, I have considerable experience managing, developing programs and events, and fundraising for small nonprofits. Currently, in addition to teaching, I manage operations for a small foundation that funds neuroscience education, so I am also learning nonprofits from the funder’s perspective. Second, during my time in graduate school I engaged with graduate-student advocacy, public humanities, and alternative career-path preparation, both at Maryland, where I founded a student group, Humanities Beyond the Academy, and in professional associations like the MLA and ACLA. This recent experience in the doctoral-study trenches, and my work in non-tenure-track positions, could provide a useful perspective on fostering and supporting participation by graduate-students, adjuncts, and independent scholars.
I have organized panels and presented on Dickinson, music, and improvisation at the Modern Language Association, the Northeast Modern Language Association, the Society for the Study of American Women Writers, the Popular Culture Association, and other conferences. I remain engaged with Dickinson studies post-PhD. In addition to publications in The Emily Dickinson Journal and Reception, I recently co-edited (with the amazing Samantha Landau) a special issue of Women’s Studies with the theme “New Directions in Dickinson and Music.” The Oxford Handbook of Emily Dickinson, forthcoming this spring, includes a chapter on my research. In March, I led two Virtual Poetry Discussion Groups sponsored by the Emily Dickinson Museum. I am currently at work on a monograph that expands on my dissertation.