NEPCA area chairs help the organization assemble its annual conference by helping the program chair determine the worthiness of paper submissions. They also help submitters fashion their proposals. NOTE: All the emails links should be live.  See below for the full listing of responsibilities.

This is a current list of specialized chairs, but NEPCA is open to new panels and individual papers on a much wider range of subjects. If you don’t see your area, don’t despair. Contact the None of the Above chair at the bottom of the list for consultation and assistance.

Area Chairs for Special Topics for 2020 NEPCA Conference

• Animals and Culture: Elizabeth Gartley, The New School, garte246@newschool.edu
• COVID-19 and Popular Culture: Lori Seward, lseward716@gmail.com
• Disney Studies: Priscilla Hobbs, Southern New Hampshire University,  p.hobbs-penn@snhu.edu

Current NEPCA Area Chairs

• American Literature and Fiction: Mark Madigan, Nazareth College, mmadiga2@naz.edu
•  Belief: June-Ann Greeley, Sacred Heart University, greeleyj@sacredheart.edu
• Celtic Studies: Tim Madigan, St. John Fisher College, tmadigan@sjfc.edu
• Comics and Graphic Novels: Zack Kruse, zackkruse@gmail.com 
• Crime and Scandal in Fact and Fiction: Joe Baumstarck, University of Louisville, jbaumstarck@protonmail.com
• Dance and Performance Studies: OPEN
• Digital Media and Gaming Culture: Jeff Cain, Sacred Heart University, cainj@sacredheart.edu 
• Fan, Fandoms, and Celebrity Studies: Shelly Jones, SUNY Delhi, jonesmc@delhi.edu
• Fantasy and Science Fiction: Amie Doughty, SUNY Oneonta,  Amie.Doughty@oneonta.edu
• Fashion and Body Image: Gloria Monaghan, Wentworth Institute, monaghang@wit.edu
• Film & History: Carol Mitchell, Springfield College,  cmitchel@springfieldcollege.edu
• Food, Foodways and Culture: Ann Kordas, Johnson & Wales University, akordas@jwu.edu 
• Genders, Sex and Sexualities: Carol-Ann Farkas, MCPHS University, Carol-Ann.Farkas@mcphs.edu
• Global Cultures: Frank A. Salamone, Iona College, fsalamone@iona.edu
• Health, Disease and Popular Culture: Jennifer Tebbe-Grossman, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University, Jennifer.Tebbe-Grossman@mcphs.edu
• History and Uses of the Past: James P. Hanlan, Worcester Polytechnic Institute,  jphanlan@wpi.edu 
• Humor:    Geraldine Wagner, Johnson & Wales University, Geraldine.Wagner@jwu.edu 
• Labor Studies: OPEN
• Libraries, Archives, Collecting & Publishing: Julie DeCesare, Providence College, jdecesa1@providence.edu  
• Marketing and Advertising: Rick Magee, Sacred Heart University, mageer@sacredheart.edu
• Monsters and the Monstrous: Michael A. Torregrossa, Independent Scholar,  popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com
• Music: Terry Hamblin, SUNY Delhi, hamblitr@delhi.edu
• New England Studies: Peter Holloran, Worcester State University, pholloran@worcester.edu
• Philosophy and Popular Culture: Anthony G. Cirilla, College of the Ozarks,  acirilla@cofo.edu.
• Politics, Civic Life and Popular Culture: Dana Gavin, Marist College, dana.gavin@marist.edu
• Psychology and Popular Culture: Michelle Ronayne,  michelle.ronayne@gmail.com
• Race and Ethnicity: Cory Matieyshen, Independent Scholar, cmatieyshen@gmail.com
• Romance/Popular Romance Fiction: Wendy Wagner, Johnson & Wales, Wendy.Wagner@jwu.edu 
• Science and Technology: Todd Olszewski, Providence College, tolszews@providence.edu
• Sports: OPEN
• Storytelling: Constructing Oral and Written Narratives: Adam Crowley, Husson College, crowleya@husson.edu
• Teaching and Popular Culture: Lance Eaton, Brandeis University & North Shore Community College, lance.eaton@gmail.com
• Television: Karen Honeycutt, Keene State College, khoneycutt@keene.edu
• Travel: Mark D. Van Ells, Queensborough Community College, mvanells@qcc.cuny.edu
• Urban Studies: Lois Ascher, Wentworth Institute, ascherl@wit.edu
• War, Peace and Culture: Shawn Driscoll, University of Massachusetts–Lowell, shawn_driscoll@uml.edu
• World Literature: Susan Gorman, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University, susan.gorman@mcphs.edu
• None of the Above:  Lance Eaton, northeastpopculture@gmail.com.

Area Chair Responsibilities

1.  Solicit proposals in your area for the upcoming NEPCA conference. Get details on the upcoming conference.

2.  Advertise regularly for proposals.  A good place to do this is on H-Net.  We strongly recommend you post monthly Calls for Papers on H-Net.  You can send notes to H-Commons. It currently uses a system called H-Announce for Calls for Papers.   We also encourage you to send out flyers to outlets you may know of just as department heads, blogs, other professional organizations, and social media.

3.  Occasionally go into the shared folder of submitted CFPs to evaluate them for worthiness and recommend to the Program Chair whether or not a proposal should be included in the conference. Please note: The program committee makes the final call on accepting or rejecting proposals. We almost always accept the area chair recommendation, but sometimes have to reject papers that don’t fit into a conference panel slot.  Please advise applicants that they will hear from the Program Chair by early July.

4.  If you have enough good proposals to fashion an entire panel (generally, this would be three 20-minute presentations), recommend that panel to the Program Chair. Complete panels are almost always accepted in their entirety, though we request that not all panelists come from the same institution.

5.  Attend the fall NEPCA conference and chair a panel devoted to your area.  If you are unable to attend, please recommend another scholar who would be willing to take your place. (Caveat: That person must be a NEPCA member or be willing to become one.)

  Sample Call for Papers:

CALL FOR PAPERS:

            The Northeast Popular/American Culture Association (NEPCA) is seeking paper proposals on the topic of [subject area] for its fall conference to be held at [location] on [date].

Please send electronic versions of your proposal to: [Use the URL for the current year’s Google form].

NEPCA presentations are generally 15-20 minutes in length and may be delivered either formally or informally.  NEPCA prides itself on holding conferences which emphasize sharing ideas in a non-competitive and supportive environment involving graduate students, junior faculty, and senior scholars.