Beth Martin Birky
Associate Academic Dean, Title IX Coordinator
Education
- B.A., Goshen College, 1983
- M.A., Arizona State University, 1988
- Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago, 1998
Contact
- bethmb@goshen.edu
- (574) 535-7465
- Administration Building 33
- “Associate Academic Dean.” Starting in July 2019, Dr. Birky began working in the Academic Dean’s office with the following areas of focus: overseeing Interdisciplinary Studies and advising Interdisciplinary majors, directing the Women’s & Gender Studies program and advising minors, working with Academic Integrity issues and Academic grievances, facilitating grants.
- “Title IX Coordinator.” In July 2019, Dr. Birky was assigned the role of Title IX Coordinator, overseeing Title IX policy and handling appeals to Title IX determinations. She works closely with the Title IX Advisory committee, the Deputy Coordinator, and employees serving on the Sexual Assault Misconduct Team (SMRT). Dr. Birky serves as campus liaison to ICESA: Indiana Consortium to End Sexual Assault and coordinates campus collaboration with community services, such as the Goshen Police Department, the Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney’s office, and Goshen Hospital.
- After working between 2015-2017 as an advocate for students who encounter sexual violence, Dr. Birky served as 2017-2019 as Title IX Deputy Coordinator receiving reports and coordinating investigation processes. She also served as the Special Assistant to the Provost for Title IX, assisting with Title IX policy and compliance issues. In October 2018, Dr. Birky completed ATIXA’s Title IX Coordinator certification level one.
- “Literature in London: Fictions of Empire.” A new English department course taught in London (May 2018) and featuring fiction by young African Novelists. Editor, publisher, and literary critic Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (’88) connected the class to authors and publishers. Students researched African arts and history in London, while living in a diverse East Aldgate neighborhood. A second class will be offered in 2020.
- “No Borders on Justice”: 2017 Mininger grant to travel to Guatemala to develop a May term course Core 300, “Global Issues: Gender in a Global Context” in Guatemala.
- “Generative Refusals: Student Activism and Administrative Accountability around Title IX”: 2016 Mininger Faculty Conference grant to attend the National Women’s Studies Association conference in Montreal, Quebec, with Associate Professor Kendra Yoder and students. The session featured collaborative strategies around Title IX that include both administration and students.
- “The GC Bystander Approach to Sexual Assault Education & Prevention: PIN Evaluation and Program Development”: An eight-week Maple Scholars project with Associate Professor Kendra Yoder and three student members of Goshen College’s PIN program: Sarah Hofkamp, Laura Miller, and Zachary Zimmerman.
May 2020
Engl 305, Literature in London, “Fictions of Empire”
Spring Semester 2019
Engl 201, World Literature
Summer 2018
Core 300, Global Issues: Gender in a Global Context (online)
May 2018
Engl 305, Literature in London (Travel course and SST alternate course)
Spring Semester 2018
Core 110, Academic Voice
Engl 204, Expository Writing
Fall 2017
Core 180, Goshen Seminar, Identity in World Literature
Engl 230-AW, Arthurian Literature
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
“Living in Community: Sexual Misconduct Prevention, Training and Response,” August 2019. With Beverly Lapp, Interim President and Academic Dean at AMBS.
Goshen College Convocation,
“I Didn’t Mean it Like That!: Impact v. Intent in gender-based and sexual harassment and misconduct.” Goshen, Indiana September 2018.
“MeToo@GC: Reporting Gender-based and sexual harassment, misconduct, and assault.” Goshen, Indiana April 2018.
Mennonite Convention, “Love is a Verb”, Orlando, Florida July 2017
Presentation at Youth Convention, “The Good Samaritan in the Modern Age: Intervening in Sexual Violence” with students Sarah Hofkamp, Zachary Zimmerman, and Laura Miller
National Women’s Studies Association, Montreal, Quebec, November 2016
Session Coordinator, “Generative Refusals: Student Activism and Administrative Accountability around Title IX,” with Dr. Kendra Yoder, Goshen College, and students Sarah Hofkamp, Laura Miller, and Zachary Zimmerman
National Women’s Studies Association, Montreal, Quebec, November 2016
Session Coordinator, “Generative Refusals: Student Activism and Administrative Accountability around Title IX,” with Dr. Kendra Yoder, Goshen College, and students Sarah Hofkamp, Laura Miller, and Zachary Zimmerman
Course Expertise
Literature:
British Literature to 1800
Shakespeare
World Literature: Postcolonial Studies
Genre Studies: History of the Novel
Expository Writing
Academic Voice (Speech and Writing)
Women’s and Gender Studies:
Introduction to Gender Studies
Gender Theory
Women and Development in Costa Rica
Gender in a Global Context
Intercultural:
Costa Rican Study Service semester (Program director, San José, Costa Rica)
Borderlands: Immigration in Context (Instructor, San Antonio/McAllen, TX)
Literature in London: Fictions of Empire/African Literature in Diaspora
“Resisting Radical Feminism,” Timbrel: Publication of Mennonite Women USA Fall 2018.
Book review of Mothering Mennonite. Rachel Epp Buller and Kerry Fast, eds. In Mennonite Quarterly Review 88.1 (July 2014): 405-408.
“Body and Spirit.” Timbrel: Publication of Mennonite Women USA 14.3 (May/June 2011): 7-9.
“Empowering young women through holistic teaching and learning.” Equipping: Pastoral Newsletter for MC USA March 2011. Also appeared in the Mennonite Weekly Review 11 April 2011. Online.
Book review of Sarah Klassen’s A Feast of Longing in Mennonite Quarterly Review 84.4 (October 2010).
“Cast Off Cynicism and Cast Your Vote.” Peer Review: Publication of the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 10.2/3 (2008): 43.
“‘Sloughing off Ribs’: Revealing The Second Sex in Julia Kasdorf’s Poetry.” Mennonite Quarterly Review, 7.4 (October 2003): 589-611.
“Katherine Anne Porter’s ‘The Grave’: Women’s Writing and Re-visioning Memory,” Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering 4.2 (Fall/Winter 2002): 51-64.
“When Flesh becomes Word: Creating Space for the Female Body in Mennonite Women’s Poetry.” Mennonite Quarterly Review, 72.4 (October 1998): 677-688.
President’s Innovation Fund, Teaching Faculty Renewal Grants: “African Literature in Context.” February 2018.
Mininger Research Grant: “No Borders on Gender Justice: Preparing to Teach Gender in Guatemala,” Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2017
Mininger Conference Grant: “Generative Refusals: Student Activism and Administrative Accountability around Title IX,” Montreal, Quebec, 2016
Mininger Research Grant: “From page to stage: Building Context for Teaching Shakespeare,” London, England, 2015
Mininger Conference Grant: “The Feminist Faithful: Connecting Faith with Feminism through Transgression and Justice,” San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2014
Mininger Research Grant: “Service for Peace,” Northern Ireland, 2013
Mininger Research Grant: “Bringing Home the Work,” Costa Rica, 2012
President Stoltzfus’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task force (co-chair with Dominique Burgunder-Johnson 2018-2019; committee member 2019-2020), which is charged with reviewing Goshen College’s current programs and activities and making recommendations for improvements.
Member of Title IX Advisory Committee (2017-present).
Faculty Adviser to the Goshen Chapter of AAUW (American Association of University Women), 2016-present.
Women’s Leadership Council (2017-present): A group of Goshen College alumnae and employees focused on supporting women’s career development and community service.
- Member of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship, serve on Fellowship Commission
- Mennonite Women USA board member, Editorial Representative, 2011-2018
- Chair, Mennonite Women Editorial Advisory Committee, 2011-2018
- Member, Mennonite Women Bible Study Advisory Committee, 2011-2018
Following graduation from Goshen College in 1983, Dr. Birky taught high school English at Christopher Mennonite High School in Lansdale, PA, until 1987. She went on to receive her MA from Arizona State University and her Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago, with a focus on Eighteenth-century English Fiction. From 1993-2019, Dr. Birky taught English and Women’s Studies at Goshen College.
During her time at Goshen College, Dr. Birky has chaired the English department (2001-2006, 2008-2012) and directed the Women’s Studies (later the Women’s and Gender Studies) program (2001-2006, 2007-2018, 2019-present). Dr. Birky has also held a variety of administrative positions: Writing Center Director (1996-2001), Summer Housing Coordinator (1998-2000), General Education director (1999-2003), Humanities division Co-Chair to Academic Affairs (2003-2006, 2009-2011), Faculty Chair (2005-2006), Interim Associate Academic Dean (Spring 2007), Faculty Advocate (2015-2017) and Title IX Deputy Coordinator (2017-2019).
As an advocate for students and gender issues on campus, Dr. Birky has been involved with a variety of student groups, campus issues and events. She has served as the adviser to the Goshen Student Women’s Association (GSWA) and the Goshen Monologues. Collaborating with student leaders, Dr. Birky developed a new position as faculty advocate for students experiencing sexual or interpersonal violence. She collaborates with Dr. Kendra Yoder, Associate Professor of Social Work and Title IX Deputy Coordinator, on a campus Bystander Education program called PIN: Prevention Intervention Network.
In November 2017, Dr. Birky assumed a more formal administrative role as Title IX Deputy Coordinator. In that capacity, she receives student reports of sexual misconduct and oversees resources, student support, and investigation processes. In 2018-2019, Dr. Birky helped expand Goshen College’s training around issues of sexual assault and gender/sexual harassment with online and in-person training opportunities across campus.
As co-chair of President Stoltzfus’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, Dr. Birky worked with Dominique Burgunder-Johnson to compile a list of current GC issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion; conduct a campus climate survey; and hold focus groups on student and employee experiences with diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2019-2020, she became a member of the DEI Task Force to assist with review, analysis, and program recommendations for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.