California STS Summer Retreat

It is that time of year again. Time to start preparing for the Annual
STS Summer Retreat!

This year we will be celebrating our 6th Anniversary, and again, we'll
be spending time talking and walking in the beautiful Marin Headlands.
The retreat will be held Friday, June 22nd, through Sunday, June 24th.
At this point we are contacting you about attendance, workshops, and
perhaps fundraising. More details will follow soon, this is to just
get us going. Please circulate this to anyone or any lists at
California universities that might be interested. STS lives in lots of
corners, and each year we need help finding them. If you did not get
this directly and want to be on our list, please email us at
cal.sts.network@gmail.com.

OVERALL we will continue with the successful events from the past:
* STS Projects in 2 minutes
* Dissertation proposal groups
* Mini-Workshops taught by faculty
* Professionalization Sessions (grants, jobs, writing, teaching, etc)
* Visual/Film/Documentary Teaching
* Nature & Beach Theory Walks
* Great meals and lots of coffee

1) ATTENDANCE & DEPOSITS

Same as last year, we will cap the attendance to 60 people – first
come, first served (grads, faculty, postdocs). Since there is a
limited number of spots available, we ask that everyone confirm their
attendance by sending their deposit of $120 no later than March 20.

Again it is first come, first serve. Please make your deposits payable
to UC Regents. Send your deposits to:

ATTN: Nicole Kramer
UC Davis, Science & Technology Studies
SSH Bldg., Room 1240
Davis, CA 95616

If you need a receipt, please indicate so with a note included with
your deposit.

Of note, this year we hope that we might have some children join us!
Families are always welcome and we are working out the logistics to
secure semi-private sleeping quarters etc. If you are thinking about
coming and would like to be able to bring along your little ones
please let us know as soon as possible, so we can assist with your
onsite needs, including ideas about cooperative childcare.

2) WORKSHOPS

We have a confirmed two workshops, one led by Chandra Mukerji (UCSD
Communication and Science Studies) and another by Cathy Gere (UCSD
History and Science Studies), but schedules change and we're always
looking for new workshops. Faculty or postdocs, please contact us if
YOU are interested in guiding a workshop (1-2 hours) on a topic of
your choosing, and format as inventive or straightforward as you like
(from interactive, role-playing and lectures to methods assignments,
etc). Workshops are an open event on the topic of choice for the
workshops leader. Previous year's workshops have included "Mapping
your STS", "Innovation Studies and STS", "Robot artists and STS", "Why
your STS project is a disability studies project," "Boundary Objects
and Boundary Crossings," etc. For more examples of workshops (homework
etc) you can visit the STS CA Network webpage:
tinyurl.com/stsretreat2010.

Please contact us immediately if you would like to host one of the
workshops this year. We would like to confirm the workshops as soon as
possible. The final deadline for workshop proposals will be March 10.

3) FUNDRAISING and OTHER JOBS

Please let us know if you want to help with other aspects of
organizing, have ideas you wanted to see implemented, want to help us
work on a "logo" or design, have suggestions for evening activities,
etc.

If you want to help organize and spread the word around your campus,
PLEASE join our organizing committee.

Also please let us know if you can help with fundraising. We realize
that in these times it is almost impossible to ask for money, but
occasionally there is still room in budgets near the end of the year.
So if you can help to raise funds the general retreat fund, please let
us know and do so!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

Thanks!

Jeremy on behalf of organizing committee (Joe, Jeremy, Aaron, Matt, and Xan)

NUTS AND BOLTS:
Where: Marin Headlands [http://www.naturebridge.org/headlands]
When: June 22-24, 2012

*Tentative* Schedule

FRIDAY
12:00- 1:30 pm: Arrive by noon for Orientation and lunch to follow on site
2:00-5:00: 2 Minute project descriptions (2 slides = 2 clicks)
5:00-6:00: Nature Walks!
6:00-7:00: Dinner
8:00-9:30: Dissertation Workshops (grads you will need to prep a short
project description; details to follow)

SATURDAY
8:00-9:00: Breakfast
9:30-11:30: WORKSHOP 1
11:30-12:30: WORKSHOP 2 or Theory Walks
12:30-1:30: Lunch
2:00-4:00: Professionalization Session #1
4:00-6:00: Professionalization Session #2
6:00-7:00: Dinner
7:30-9:00: Visual Work and Documentaries to Teach with
9:30 .... Evening events, suggestions, games welcome

SUNDAY
8:00-9:00: Breakfast
9:15-11:15: WORKSHOP 3
11:15-12:15: Conference eval, compare notes, where to go from here etc.
12:30-1:30: Lunch
....Drive home after some lovely hiking in the Headlands! REMEMBER:
We have permission to park our cars until sunset so feel free to
continue your chats and nature escapes all afternoon.