RSA 2020 - Early Bird Deadline Reminder and Acknowledgment of Eid al-Fitr

Dear all:

Don’t forget!  Early registration for the RSA 2020 “Rhetoric / Hospitality” convention in Portland, Oregon (May 21-24) closes March 1, 2020.  After that date, registration fees will increase.

Please join us in Portland, for the exciting and varied programming, as well as a Town Hall meeting with attendees to discuss diversity and inclusion in the organization.  We welcome your voice in this discussion.

I want to acknowledge an oversight in RSA's inclusion efforts. Specifically, we have not thought with sufficient depth or clarity on how religion and faith, as an important aspect of identity, should be centered and valued in RSA’s equity and inclusion work. This is especially germane to the team that is planning the 2020 Conference because our conference dates overlap with Eid al-Fitr and the end of Ramadan, May 23 -24. Although the dates for the 19th biennial conference were chosen in 2015, the conflict between Eid and our conference dates has only come to the attention of RSA’s leaders in the past month. That is an oversight for which the co-organizers of the conference and the President of RSA apologize. Moving forward, the Committee for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access will help RSA develop some best practices for avoiding such conflicts and failures of inclusion in the future.  If you have any questions about this issue or the 2020 Conference, please contact myself, mballif@uga.edu, President Kirt Wilson, Anjali Vats,  or Jerry Hauser.

The registration portal can be located here: https://www.rhetoricsociety.org/aws/RSA/pt/sp/conference_registration.

Not sure if you already registered? Members can view this information on the Members page. Non-members can contact Kathie Cesa to check.

See you in Portland!

Michelle Ballif

For the Planning Committee

Diane Davis
Karma Chávez
Byron Hawk