The SFRA is seeking nominations for President and Secretary (3-year elected positions) and members for each of the various Award Committees (3-year appointed positions).
Open Elected Executive Committee Positions: President and Secretary The SFRA is opening self-nominations for two Executive Committee positions: President and Secretary. Each elected representative will serve for three years beginning on January 1, 2026 and will be a voting member on the Executive Committee. The President then serves a subsequent three-year term as Immediate Past President. The SFRA is an international organization and there are no place-based restrictions on President or Secretary candidates. All are encouraged to run!
If you are interested in running for either position, please send a candidate statement by July 25th to hugh.oconnell@umb.edu. These statements will be shared with the membership ahead of the election, which will take place in the fall of 2025. Previous President and Secretary Candidate Statements can be found at: https://sfrareview.org/2022/10/22/candidate-statements-for-the-2023-2025-sfra-executive-committee/ If you have any questions about the positions, please feel free to reach out to me directly or to the current Secretary, Sarah Lohmann (sarah.lohmann@lit.gess.ethz.ch). The SFRA Bylaws descriptions of each position appear below.
President and Secretary Information from the SFRA By-Laws
1. SFRA President (the President serves one three-year term and then a subsequent three-year term as Immediate Past President) The President does a lot to shape the direction of the SFRA, as they are often setting the agenda and overseeing both short-term and long-term planning. I’m copying the official by-law language for the President below; however, as the outgoing President, I’d be happy to speak with anyone about the position in more detail:
“The president shall be chief executive of the association; they shall preside at all meetings of the membership and the Executive Committee, have general and active management of the business of the association, and see that all orders and resolutions of the Executive Committee are carried out; the president shall have general superintendence and direction of all other officers of the association and shall see that their duties are properly performed; the president shall submit a report of the operations of the association for the fiscal year to the Executive Committee and to the membership at the annual meeting, and from time to time shall report to the Executive Committee on matters within the president’s knowledge that may affect the association; the president shall be ex officio member of all standing committees and shall have the powers and duties in management usually vested in the office of president of a corporation; the president shall appoint all committees herein unless otherwise provided.”
After fulfilling their three-year term, each President then serves for another three years as the Immediate Past President (IPP), acting as a sounding board for the current President and helping to provide some institutional knowledge and continuity for the organization as a whole.
2. SFRA Secretary (the Secretary can serve one or two three-year terms)
The second position is for the Secretary, who helps keep the SFRA’s records, oversees the travel grant process, and manages relationships with the journals, among other responsibilities. I’m copying the official by-law language for the Secretary below:
“The secretary shall attend all sessions of the Executive Committee and all meetings of the membership and record all the votes of the association and minutes of the meetings and shall perform like duties for the Executive Committee and other committees when required. At any meeting at which the president is to preside, but is unable, and for which the vice president is unable to preside, the secretary shall preside. The secretary shall give notice of all meetings of the membership and special meetings of the Executive Committee and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the Executive Committee or the president. In the event the secretary is unable to attend such meetings as may be expected, the Executive Committee may designate some other member of the association to serve as secretary pro tem.”
Of course, these official descriptions just scratch the surface of the work that these officers do, and all members of the SFRA’s Ex Com are highly involved in the shaping of the organization. If you have any questions about these positions, please feel free to contact me (hugh.oconnell@umb.edu) or the current officers. We’ll be happy to chat with you about any of the positions.
3. Award Committees: Student Paper Award, Mary Kay Bray Award, SFRA Book Award, Clareson Service Award, Innovative Research Award, Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship Award All award committee members are appointed by the Executive Committee and serve on the committee for three years, chairing the committee in their third year. Generally, each committee is responsible for choosing the winner and preparing a committee statement to be presented at the Awards Banquet and published in The SFRA Review. Other responsibilities, depending on the specific award, may include sending out calls for and/or reading submissions. Information about each award can be found at: https://sfra.org/awards/ Serving on awards committees is a good way to begin getting involved with the organization, to learn about current sf work, and to build connections with other SFRA members. If you have any questions about the committees, please feel free to reach out to me directly (hugh.oconnell@umb.edu).
Cheers, -Hugh. Hugh C. O’Connell, PhD [he/him/his]President, Science Fiction Research AssociationAssociate Professor of English & Undergraduate Program DirectorUniversity of Massachusetts Boston
The 2024 SFRA Awards were announced at our annual conference in Tartu, Estonia.
Student Paper Award
The Student Paper Award is presented to the outstanding scholarly essay read at the annual conference of the SFRA by a student. This year’s receipient was Vicky Brewster (Swansea University), for “Simulated Worlds and Digital Disruptions: Gothic Glitch in The Tenth Girl.”
Mary Kay Bray Award
The Mary Kay Bray Award is given for the best review to appear in the SFRA Review in a given year. This year’s recipient was David Welch, for “Hades” (SFRA Review 53.1).
SFRA Book Award
The SFRA Book Award is given to the author of the best first scholarly monograph in SF, in each calendar year. This year’s recipient was Mingwei Song, for Fear of Seeing: A Poetics of Chinese Science Fiction (Columbia University Press).
Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service
The Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service is presented for outstanding service activities-promotion of SF teaching and study, editing, reviewing, editorial writing, publishing, organizing meetings, mentoring, and leadership in SF/fantasy organizations. This year’s recipient was Jeffrey Weinstock.
Innovative Research Award
The SFRA Innovative Research Award (formerly the Pioneer Award) is given to the writer or writers of the best critical essay-length work of the year. This year’s recipient was Rebekah Sheldon for “Generativity without Reserve: Sterility Apocalypses and the Enclosure of Life-Itself” (Science Fiction Film and Television).
SFRA Award for Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship
Originally the Pilgrim Award, the SFRA Award for Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship was created in 1970 by the SFRA to honor lifetime contributions to SF and fantasy scholarship. The award was first named for J. O. Bailey’s pioneering book, Pilgrims through Space and Time and altered in 2019. This year’s recipient was Lisa Yaszek.
***Please share this call for volunteer positions widely in your networks and with any individuals that might be interested.***
Dear SFRA, we are currently inviting applications for two unpaid, volunteer positions: the SFRA web director and the SFRA outreach officer. Both positions would be for immediate appointment.
The web director position is particularly pressing as our current web director is unfortunately moving on from the position imminently. Here is how the SFRA bylaws describe the role of the web director:
“The office of the web director shall be responsible for the maintenance of the SFRA website. The web director will report to the Executive Committee and will update the contents and format of the website as deemed appropriate by the Executive Committee. The web director will be appointed by the Executive Committee, and will serve an open-ended term, which can be terminated by either the web director or the Executive Committee. The web director shall not be a member of the Executive Committee.”
Our current web director provided this list of the usual tasks performed by the position:
Assisting users with any technical issues relating to logins and memberships
Uploading any new or updated content for the website
Updating the expiration dates on the membership at the end of each year
Adding new pages and memberships each year for the annual SFRA conference
Implementing a voting system (for example, using MailPoet) for any SFRA membership votes
Keeping site plugins and the WordPress version up-to-date
The second position of outreach officer has remained unfulfilled since its creation. Here is how the bylaws describe the outreach officer:
“The outreach officer will organize, in coordination with the vice president, the various internet and social media outlets, in order to publicize and further the goals and mission of the organization. They will also be responsible for seeking opportunities for collaboration and outreach with other scholarly organizations, especially organizations that serve populations that have historically been underrepresented in SFRA. The outreach officer will be appointed by the Executive Committee and will serve a three-year term, which can be terminated by either the outreach officer or the Executive Committee. The outreach officer shall not be a member of the Executive Committee.”
If you have questions about either position, please, reach out — and we would love to see your application. If you are interested in serving as the next web director or the outreach officer for the organization, please send a (short!) letter of interest and a CV to hugh.oconnell@umb.edu.
Dear SFRA, please find below the candidate statements for this year’s candidates for the at-large positions on the executive committee. After this year’s special one-year pilot, these positions will have three year terms like the other positions on exec.
Per our bylaws, we now enter a thirty-day period where additional candidates may present themselves. The bylaws describe the process this way:
Within 30 days of the publication of this slate of candidates in the SFRA Review, additional candidates may be nominated by submission of a petition signed by at least five persons of the membership in good standing entitled to vote in the election to the secretary of the association.At the end of this 30-day period nominations shall be closed and the ballot shall be prepared.
If you would like to take advantage of this process, please reach out to me and we can get the ball rolling. The ballot will be locked on November 30, and the ballot period will close on Friday, December 29.
Thanks all! Gery
Helane Androne (Miami University)
I am happy to stand once again for the At-large position on the Executive Committee of the SFRA. I am currently Professor of English at Miami University of Ohio Regional campuses (open access), and I’m an Affiliate of the Global and Intercultural Studies Department. I teach courses in African American literature, Latine literatures, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Women’s Studies, and the Sacred in Science fiction–all which inevitably intersect and engage the premises and texts of Scifi and its conscientious questioning of the status quo. I am committed to teaching and learning practices that engage non/traditional students through multidisciplinary and multi-modal learning, and I seek to reflect that concern both in my courses and in my scholarship. My current project uses Chela Sandoval’s Methodology of the Oppressed alongside Malidoma Patrice Somé’s rite of passage teachings to point out how myth and magic operate as an activism of radical survival in black womanist SFF. I have recently engaged SFF to present on Love Theory, on anti-racism, on activism and resistance, on intersectionality and the image of God, and on methodologies of emancipation. Along with scholarly interests, I have concrete experience and skills that enhance my candidacy and, I hope, my ability to continue contributing productively to the complex discussions and decisions within the SFRA Executive Committee. For example, I have successfully written and co-written almost $200K in external and internal grants and I have presented for more than 70 conferences, workshops, and lectures. I also remain an active scholar, continuing to support the kind of multi-disciplinary knowledges represented in my interests. I like to think that my academic administrative experience chairing a department and co-directing a graduate program, my service on similarly complex committees, –including serving as chair for the 1921 Award for 2 cycles at the American Literature Society–, alongside my creative and entrepreneurial experiences as an independent magazine editor, writer, and serial entrepreneur, provide a useful perspective. As an At-large member of the SFRA, I believe I’ll bring a balance of academic experience, administrative conscientiousness, and scholarly aptitude, as well as energetic support for the diverse and expanding role of SFF.
Kania Greer (Georgia Southern University)
I am interested in serving as an SFRA Representative At-Large on the Executive Committee. As a member of SFRA for the past couple of years I have seen the value in the community that SFRA provides for those who have an interest in science fiction, and I would like to use my expertise to expand this community. My research focuses on how people utilize science fiction to access science and how this access promotes critical thinking. Through this research, we have discovered that many people who work in scientific and engineering fields have close ties to science fiction through print and media channels. This provides potentially untapped opportunities to engage students in content that is thought provoking while also entertaining. From comics to novels there are a myriad of genres and platforms to allow students to access science and literacy through fiction. I know personally, just attending SFRA Conferences for the past couple of years how I have come to consider differing world views and examine privilege through safe conversations around fictional people.
My current role at Georgia Southern University is that of Coordinator for the Center for STEM Education. Even though I have a doctoral degree, this is a staff level position that does not provide tenure benefits nor faculty status. Through this center, housed within the College of Education, we promote STEM education through both formal and informal educational opportunities across K-20 grades. We work with teachers in every field to provide engaging and hands-on opportunities for students often showcasing activities that get students thinking critically about outcomes. With Georgia’s recent focus on literacy across the state, we have begun to host professional development workshops for teachers utilizing science fiction to engage students in science fact. For example: utilizing The Hunger Games and having students consider what District 12 could utilize in order to produce food. Then students design their solution whether it be a greenhouse, water tower, electric grid, etc. Their solutions require that they have knowledge of the constraints of the story but engages the solution focused part of their brains through an engineering design process as well. In this way we are combining literature with STEM learning to improve critical thinking skills.
I think my unique experiences in working with science fiction from a researcher perspective could serve the membership well and potentially expand SFRA to more members. I have also served on the SFRA Student Paper Award Committee for the past 2 years and am currently chair of the Committee.
Gabriela Lee (University of Pittsburgh)
As an academic and author from the Global South, I am very excited to renew my commitment as an at large member of the SFRA. I am looking forward to highlighting and raising up voices from my side of the world and bringing them into conversation with other scholars and writers from the Global North. I am also looking forward tocontinue supporting regular activities that the SFRA currently has and encouraging new initiatives, and I intend to bring my energy and work ethic to these projects. Outside of the SFRA, I am also the co-editor of an upcoming sourcebook on Philippine speculative fiction, soon to be published by the University of the Philippines Press. I am also currently a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a faculty member (on leave) at the University of the Philippines, where I teach creative writing, children’s literature, and Philippine literature in English. Broadly speaking, my creative and critical work has usually focused on intersections of children’s literature, speculative fiction, and the post/de/anti-colonial, especially the ways in which it manifests in Philippine literature. I hope that through the at large member position in the SFRA, I can contribute to making visible many creators and scholars who may not have had opportunities to be seen and heard, as well as learning from a community of like-minded scholars and writers. I look forward to serving SFRA community in imagining and moving towards a kinder, more compassionate world.
We are pleased to announce the acceptance of Student Paper Award Submissions for 2023-24. If you or a student of yours presented at the conference in Dresden and would like to be considered for this award, please see below for instructions.
In order to be eligible, all you have to do is send in the paper that you presented as you presented it (no revised or extended versions, other than light editing to correct typos). Please attach all presentations (preferably in Microsoft Word or PDF format; including presentation files from PowerPoint or Prezi is fine) to an email with the subject line “SFRA Student Paper Award Submission” and send them to kagreer@georgiasouthern.edu
In order to keep items together and ensure we match your presentation with your paper, please name the files as such “Last Name.First Initial.Paper or Presentation” (example: Greer.K.Paper and Greer.K.Presentation). Submissions are due by October 31, 2023.The Committee looks forward to receiving your submissions and reading your work.
Sincerely, Kania Greer Chair – Student Paper Awards Committee
