Twentieth Century Area Studies Group Activity Report and Budget—Spring 2021

The Twentieth Century Area Studies Group is a group of students at The CUNY Graduate Center. The group provides a space of exchange for student work and ideas within or concerning the historical period of the Twentieth Century. The group aims to foster discussion between interdisciplinary areas of study as well as provide a place for students to seek advice concerning professionalization, disciplinary definition, and thinking through their own interests while using the "Twentieth Century" as a lens, broadly conceived, through which to view any number of different issues that member are interested in, researching, or working on. The group has a blog with a record of activities on The CUNY Commons. The area group has co-sponsored student-initiated conferences, and is especially interested in working with other DSC chartered organizations. Members meet one or more times in the semester in order to plan events, invite speakers, have panel discussions, and organize conferences – with the aim of providing a public platform for Twentieth Century Studies at the Graduate Center. Previous activities include student-led journal studies groups and writing groups that meet throughout the academic year, site visits to museum and archives, and talks or workshops with invited speakers. Recent activities include an ongoing student-organized workshop series of works in progress, including conference talks and proposals, article submissions, prospectus proposals, dissertation chapters, mock job talks, and other projects. The group also places an emphasis on the professional advice that event participants can extend to graduate students and wishes to provide an environment that facilitates communication between event participants and Twentieth Century Studies area group members. Funding: Our events are always free of charge and open to the public. We acquire funding through the DSC. Co-chairs are responsible for securing any additional funding. Membership: Membership is open to any and all Graduate Center students. We also welcome the participation of students from other schools within and without CUNY. Governance: There are currently two governing co-chairs. Chairs are responsible for organizing and planning events, running meetings, promoting events, maintaining DSC status, and securing funding. Future co-chairs are decided by an annual election consisting of anonymous nominations and voting. Matriculated students at the Graduate Center are eligible for voting membership. Quorum consists of a simple majority. All other students and faculty are eligible to attend and participate in events and meetings in a non-voting capacity.