The Story I Want to Tell of Me: Speculative Fiction meets Speculative Non-fiction
Every other year starting 2015 the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning’s Committee on Diversity has hosted a Summer Junior Faculty of Color Workshop. The ACSP Junior Faculty of Color Workshop aims to provide early-career, tenure-track faculty with the skills and knowledge to flourish in the planning professoriate: developing your initial research and publishing agenda, making service and teaching effective, obtaining grants and planning a long-term career trajectory that will make an impact. In the past, Harvard has hosted the workshop, but in 2023, KU’s SPAA applied to host the workshop and was chosen.
This year’s workshop was held virtually, but participants were warmly welcomed to campus and the Lawrence community through videos by SPAA Director/Professor Maja Husar Holmes and Planning Program Director/Professor Bonnie Johnson and gift boxes full of KU, Lawrence, and Kansas goodies. There were 6 participants and 12 faculty mentors from across the U.S. and Canada. The theme of the workshop related to KU being the home of the James Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction and KU’s Common Book choice of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. Just as speculative fiction builds worlds, imagines the future, and tells stories, we applied those techniques to the participants’ own academic roles in the future-oriented field of planning. We did some speculative non-fiction work.
The goals were to create a foundation upon which to build rewarding academic journeys and, thus, make the writing of one’s P&T narrative easier and more fruitful for oneself and for others to “see” the work as well. We used techniques of self-reflection and group reflection. At the 2024 ACSP conference in Seattle, we will gather for a check-in session where participants will share stories of creating their one-year plans, reporting on their progress, and be together in person.
In addition to welcome videos, participants were able to gain wisdom about writing better grants from a “Rock-et Chalk Talk” interview between Bonnie Johnson and Kij Johnson, Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning speculative fiction writer and professor in KU’s English department and a presentation and Q&A video on the service aspect of academic life with KU SPAA alumnus Dr. Cullen Merrit, associate professor and research director of the Institute for Public Leadership in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Quotes from participants after the workshop have been:
“Getting to know other people's stories and passions really impacted me. Hearing these stories was important because it provided diverse perspectives and insights that enriched my understanding of our community and its members. These narratives highlighted shared challenges, unique experiences, and collective aspirations that might otherwise remain hidden. I left the workshop with ideas to how I can incorporate more history and storytelling into my work.”
“The workshop made me feel like I was a part of a cohort again.”
“I learned a lot from the workshop. First, I got inspiration from Octavia Butler’s story to be persistent and resilient in my writing and publishing. Our personal and lived stories inspire our research, and I like how she integrated her experiences into her writing. Second, the workshop helped me envision goals, what person I want to be in the following years, and the path I must pursue to achieve these goals.”