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:
- Interdisciplinary Studies advisor
- Academic Integrity issues and Academic grievances
- Academic Symposium
- Faculty development projects, Mininger grants, and co-supervising the newly formed GC’s Teaching for Learning Collaborative
- Transfer curriculum paths
- Grants coordinator
- “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).
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.
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 and Practice
Women and Development in Costa Rica
Gender in a Global Context
Intercultural:
Costa Rican Study Service semester (Program director, San José, Costa Rica 2001)
Women and Development in Costa Rica (Instructor, Monteverde, Costa Rica, 2006 and 2007)
Borderlands: Immigration in Context (Instructor, San Antonio/McAllen, TX)
Gender in Central America (Instructor for Whitworth College, San Rafael, Costa Rica, 2014)
Literature in London: Fictions of Empire/African Literature in Diaspora (Instructor, 2018)
“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.
Department of Education Title V Grant for Developing Hispanic Serving Institutions 2023.
Office of Violence Against Women (Department of Justice) Campus Grant, 2022.
Lilly Fellows Program grant for New Faculty Mentoring, 2019.
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
Dean’s Advisory Committee, July 2019-2024
Conduct Process Alignment task force, Chair September 2021-2024.
Transfer Student advisory committee, 2021-2022
Pandemic Task Force, 2020-2022
Compliance Committee, 2020-2024
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 (2017-2024).
- Member of Berkey Avenue Mennonite Fellowship, serve on Fellowship Commission
- Mennonite Women USA board member, Editorial Representative, 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).
All of these assignments prepared her to serve as Associate Academic Dean (2019-2024) and Title IX Coordinator until her retirement in April 2024.
As an advocate for students and gender issues on campus, Dr. Birky was involved with a variety of student groups, campus issues and events over her 30 yr career. She 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 confidential resource for students experiencing sexual or interpersonal violence. She collaborated with student life staff and campus safety on responding to reports of sexual harassment and assault, and gender discrimination. She worked with Dr. Kendra Yoder, Professor of Sociology, on the campus Bystander Education program called PIN: Prevention Intervention Network.
After helping student life win an Office of Violence Against Women Campus Grant in October 2022, she was active in the development of the Coordinated Campus Response team (CCRT), led by project director Emily Hahn. She collaborated with Chandler Buchfeller on a strategic plan for student conduct processes, including the Title IX and Discrimination (previously known as Bias) grievance processes.
During 2020-2021, Dr. Birky guided remote learning initiatives on campus and served on the Pandemic Task Force, giving over 75 students options for continuing their GC academic program remotely. With a commitment of academic access, teaching innovation, and student success, she has closely with Michelle Blank, the Director of the Academic Academic Success Center and Prof. Jody Saylor, Assoc. Professor of Biology and Director of Faculty Development, on professional development and mentoring programs for new faculty. In 2023, she worked with Associate Dean of Student Success Jan Kauffman to win a $3 million Department of Education Title V grant for developing Hispanic Serving Institutions that will provide Connections/Conexiones programming for enhanced orientation, advising, career development, and faculty teaching research.
See the March 14, 2024, news release on Dr. Birky’s retirement for additional information.