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Status of Women in the Profession Committee 

Mission Statement
The Status of Women in the Profession Committee supports and, when necessary, advocates for the female members of the SBL by: tracking the academic and professional situations of women in Biblical Studies and related fields; creating forums for women members to discuss academic and professional issues and conditions; and providing mentoring and networking opportunities. It seeks to open the Society to greater participation by women and to call attention to the various ways in which the Society speaks to and about women.

Activities

CSWP has an active Facebook page that facilitates discussion.

Advocacy  
CSWP advocates for:

• the development of programs and policies that support the full inclusion of women in the activities of SBL
• information-gathering regarding women's experiences within the academy at all career stages
• women biblical scholars in contexts beyond the Society
• developing policies and monitoring complaints of sexual harassment and ethical misconduct

Programming at the Annual Meeting

Mentor Awards
Each year at the SBL Annual Meeting, CSWP honors women who have been excellent mentors to women in the field. These mentors have provided invaluable guidance, advice, and encouragement. They serve as role models and assist other women in navigating career choices, building professional networks, and developing strategies for work-life balance. CSWP honors mentors in order to recognize their contributions and to encourage mentoring relationships.

If you would like to nominate a mentor, please send your nomination with a descriptive letter of endorsement to Rannfrid Thelle. Nominations must be received by June 1st. Nominations received after the deadline will be considered for the following year.

Women's Breakfast
The Women's Breakfast offers women scholars an opportunity to network, meet friends, and hear enlightening and engaging presentations. The mentoring awards are announced at the breakfast.

SBL Travel Grants
CSWP members assist with the evaluation of applications for the SBL Travel Grant, which is available to women and men who have never attended an SBL Annual Meeting.  Click here for information on travel grants and other SBL grants.

Student Coffee
The CSWP sponsors an annual student coffee where women students gather for an hour of sharing stories and strategies for success.

Listserv:
CSWP maintains a moderated list serve for SBL women members. This list serve is devoted to the discussion of a variety of topics related to the status of women engaged in biblical scholarship. The list includes senior and junior faculty, administrators, and graduate students. To subscribe, send a blank email to: sbl-cswp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

For the listserve archive, see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sbl-cswp/

Increasing Participation

• For helpful tips on giving presentations
• For tips on navigating the Annual Meeting
• International Meeting
  For questions regarding CSWP’s international activities, contact Molly Zahn.

Members of CSWP:

• Rannfrid Thelle (PhD., University of Oslo), is the author of Ask God. Divine Consultation in the Literature of the Hebrew Bible (2002) and Approaches to the “Chosen Place”: Accessing a Biblical Concept (2012). She has taught at the University of Oslo, Luther College in Decorah Iowa, and currently teaches at Wichita State University. Her current research projects include a study on the expectations and motivations for the excavation of Babylon. She is on the steering committee of the Israelite Prophetic Literature section of the SBL.
• April DeConick is Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice University. She has written extensively on early Christianity, mysticism and Gnosticism. Her most recent books are Holy Misogyny: Why the Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter (Continuum 2011) and The Thirteenth Apostle: What the Gospel of Judas Really Says (Continuum 2007, revised and expanded 2009). She serves on the editorial board for the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies monograph series (Leiden: Brill). In the past, she has served as Chair of the Early Jewish and Christian Mysticism Section, and the Esotericism and Mysticism in Antiquity Section of the Society of Biblical Literature. She currently chairs the Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism Section. She writes a professional blog called The Forbidden Gospels.
• Deborah Green  (Ph.D., University of Chicago) is the Greenberg Associate Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Oregon and the Director of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies. Her research focuses on the history of interpretation from the Hebrew Bible through rabbinic interpretation (midrash). Her most recent book entitled, The Aroma of Righteousness (Penn State University Press, 2011) explores images related to perfume and incense in rabbinic literature and synthesizes these images with the archaeological and historical record in Palestine. She is also co-editor of Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context: Studies of Roman, Jewish, and Christian Burials (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008) and Scriptural Exegesis: The Shapes of Culture and the Religious Imagination: Essays in Honour of Michael Fishbane (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Deborah’s current project focuses on gardens and how the experience of gardens in daily life as well as images of gardens from the Bible work their way into the theology, ritual, and cultural construction present in ancient Jewish literature.
• Mignon Jacobs (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University) is the Accreditation Liaison Officer and Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. She joined the School of Theology Faculty in 1997. Jacobs’ publications include the books Gender, Power, and Persuasion, Conceptual (2007); Coherence of the Book of Micah (2001), and the various chapters: "Ezekiel 16 Perspective of YHWH's Relationship with Jerusalem: A Story of Fraught Expectations," in Daughter Zion: Her Portrait, Her Response. Edited by Mark J. Boda, et al. (Society of Biblical Literature Ancient Israel and Its Literature (2012); "Favor and Disfavor in Jeremiah 29:1-23: Two Dimensions of the Characterization of God and the Politics of Hope" in Probing the Frontiers of Biblical Studies (2009); "Sin, Silence, and Suffering in the Conceptual Landscape of Psalm 32" in Text and Community (2007); "Toward an Old Testament Theology of Concern for the Underprivileged" in Reading the Hebrew Bible for a New Millennium: Form, Concept and Theological Perspective (2000). Among the articles she has authored are: "Conceptual Dynamics of Good and Evil in the Joseph Story" (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament); "Love, Honor, and Violence" (Semeia); "Parameters of Justice: Ideological Challenges Regarding Persons and Practices in Lev 25:25-55" (Ex Auditu); "YHWH’s Call for Israel’s ‘Return’: Command, Invitation or Threat" (Horizons in Biblical Theology) and "Mothering a Leader: Bathsheba's Relational and Functional Identities" (Semeia).
• Diane Lipsett (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her teaching and research interests in New Testament and Christian Origins include: conversion, gender, asceticism, and desire; the ancient novel in relation to early Christian narratives; ancient parables; and reception history of the Gospels.
• Susanne Scholz (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary, New York) is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, Texas. She is the author and (co-)editor of the following books: God Loves Diversity & Justice: Progressive Scholars Speak about Faith, Politics, & the World (editor, 2013), Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (2010), Introducing the Women’s Hebrew Bible (2007), Biblical Studies Alternatively: An Introductory Reader (editor, 2003), Rape Plots: A Feminist Cultural Study of Genesis 34 (2000), and Zwischenräume: Deutsche feministische Theologinnen im Ausland (co-editor, 2000).
• Seung-Ai Yang (Ph.D. University of Chicago Divinity School) is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary. She is co-editor with Rita Nokashima Brock, Jung Ha Kim and Kwok PuiLan: Off the Menu: Asian and Asian North American Women's Religion and Theology(Westminster John Knox, 2007).
• Molly Zahn (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas. Her areas of interest include the Hebrew Bible, the ancient Near Eastern world, early Judaism (especially the Dead Sea Scrolls), early Christianity, and the historical relations between Christianity and Judaism. In her research, she focuses on the issue of interpretation: how religious communities read and renew their sacred traditions in light of their own experiences and circumstances. She has published numerous articles on scriptural interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in later layers of the Hebrew Bible. Her first book, Rethinking Rewritten Scripture: Composition and Exegesis in the 4QReworked Pentateuch Manuscripts, was published by Brill in 2011.