Item 1:
 
 
 
Thoughts from the Chair…
 
Thanks to everyone who came to SCOS this year.  The atmosphere was really lovely, and as I said at the Gala Dinner, I think that this is because the organisers put the conference together with love.  There was a lot of attention to detail to make sure that delegates had a great time and that everything ran smoothly.  The venues for the social part were brilliantly chosen, and very much in the SCOS ethos of delighting in the quirky.  The music-making at the gala dinner was particularly memorable, and I will never forget the look on the face of Thomas, our meetings secretary, and long-time SCOS stalwart, as the whole of SCOS rose to give him a standing ovation for his lovely piano-playing.
 
I went to some great papers, and caught up with friends and got some particularly useful feedback on my fledgling paper.  People commented on how well populated all the sessions were and how constructive and helpful the comments were even when people disagreed with the sentiments or analysis within it.  First timers all seemed to make a point of coming up to me and saying what a positive experience they had had.  I was proud of us as a community of practice. The city is lovely as well, and, whisper it softly, nicer than Amsterdam.  I have very fond memories of it.
 
And so thanks to everyone who was involved in organising such a great event, particularly Mickey, Laura and Nicole, who were ever patient and efficient despite SCOS Boss being perpetually confused.
 
And now onto Nottingham, my home town.  Cast an eye over my Robin Hood conference within a conference and see if you want to come and talk about outlaws, forest-dwelling, taking from the rich to give to the poor, or just dress up like Maid Marion.
 
A


Item 2:

Ironwoman fundraising for Heather Höpfl

For those of you that attended the conference in Utrecht this year, you may remember Ann’s plug at the Gala Dinner for people to help me in raising funds in Heather Höpfl’s name for Macmillan cancer. Heather is very ill with brain cancer and has a Macmillan nurse who she says has been wonderful for her. I really wanted to support Heather and therefore decided to do an Ironman triathlon to raise some money for Macmillan. An Ironman is a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run, all of which has to be completed in less than 17 hours.
 
Anyway, I will try and keep this short and I am very happy and proud to say that I completed it on Sunday 20th July in Bolton (UK) in 14 hours and 30 minutes and came 11th in my category (25-29).  
 
Some highlights include: the wonderful people of Bolton who supported me through the 140.6 miles, the excellently stocked feed stations (never have I drunk so much coke in all my life), the kind weather and the feeling of elation at hearing ‘you are an ironman’ upon crossing the line.
 
The not so good bits include: the 3am start to get to the lake for 6am, being ‘swum over’ and kicked in the ribs in the lake, painful feet, mighty hills on the bike and getting covered in grease as my chain fell off before I had even exited transition.
 
That said, I am well on my way to recovery and I loved it so much that I have already signed up for next year. I am very proud to say that we have raised over three thousand pounds so far for Macmillan. My just giving page (address below) will remain open until the 20th of October 2014 and so if anybody would still like to donate then I will be eternally grateful, however small or large. The address is:
 
www.justgiving.com/cvls
 
Finally, I would like to say a massive thank you to all those that have donated so far and any of you who plan to do so in the future.
 
Best wishes
 
Charlotte “Ironwoman” Smith
 

Item 3:

 
The F word: Feminism and Business Schools:  PDW at AO
 
Feminists of CMS, you are invited to our Professional Development Workshop on ‘The F word: Feminism and Business Schools’, supported by  VIDA, the CMS Women’s Association.

The F word: Feminism and Business Schools
 
Organizer: Deborah Helen Jones; Victoria U. of Wellington;
Presenter: Alessia Contu; U. of Warwick;
Presenter: Tracy Patricia Wilcox; U. of New South Wales;
Presenter: Alison Pullen; Swansea U.;
Presenter: Sadhvi Dar; Queen Mary U. of London.
 
Program Session #: 203 | Submission: 17049 | Sponsor(s): (CMS, GDO)
 
Scheduled: Saturday, Aug 2 2014 8:00AM - 10:00AM at Pennsylvania Convention Center in Room 109 B
 
Calling feminism ‘the F word’ underlines both the power of feminist discourse to provoke and disrupt, and also the power of anti-feminist backlash to stigmatise and marginalise feminism and its practitioners. The first goal of this panel is to create conversation about feminism in business schools. We speak about emerging and re-intensifying feminist issues and forms of activism and their relevance to our research, teaching and working lives. In this project we emphasise the politics of feminism, within and beyond the business school, and we draw on our own stories of how being/ speaking ‘feminism’ is done and received there. We cut across the dualism of ‘feminism’ as a theoretical and academic project in management studies on one hand, and on the other our ‘personal or ‘private’ experiences as feminists. Our second goal for this session is to develop the community of VIDA, the CMS Women’s Association. ‘Vida’ means ‘beloved friend’ or ‘life’, and VIDA is a networked organisation dedicated to challenging patriarchal practices in academic institutions and in the re-production of knowledge. VIDA was launched in a PDW at AOM in 2010, and at CMS 2013 VIDA organised an 'experiment in critical friendship' in which scholars were invited to present their own and comment on others’ work so as to 'create collective spaces for reflection, connection, mutual support and knowledge formation and exchange'. In this way VIDA aims not only to address feminist issues in research and teaching, but to actively create alternative practices in working together.
 
Primary Sponsor: Critical Management Studies Division