The Board of Advisors and Truestees to James Gunn's original Center for the Study of Science Fiction
provided regular advice and advocacy on ongoing and new initiatives and programs offered
and sponsored by the Center, on sources of support, on structure and goals, on subjects for our annual Conference, and other pursuits. The Board
was
encouraged to make suggestions on any of these aspects at any time to the
Directors or other Center personnel, individually and collectively. Unless we
have other regular communications, we tried to stay in contact through annual
reports, and frequently solicited members for advice.
Should the need
arise and the Directors are indisposed, the Center's Board of Advisors provides guidance and
is the only body empowered to appoint a replacement Gunn Center Director. Also
in such a case, they provide oversight of our various Endowment funds and other
finances, helping ensure the Center's financial future.
Founding Director James
Gunn originated the Board from informal origins as a "Board of Trustees" at the
time of the original Center's founding. When he re-established it formally some time before April 2004, it has since seen new members join as others pass away.
NOTE: The original Gunn Center's BOA seems to have been dissolved after
the KU English department took over in 2022 and replaced it with their new,
"academically focused" SF center.
James Gunn's original Center for the Study of Science Fiction Board of Advisors
and Trustees
We regularly expanded the Center's Board of
Advisors and refine roles as we develop more formal internal documentation
during annual Board meetings.
Current members included:
-
Perry Alexander, Director of the KU Information & Telecommunication
Technology Center, and Distinguished Professor in EECS.
-
Elizabeth Bourne, author and patron of the arts who
provided for the
Bourne Scholarship in SF Writing for attending Johnson and McKitterick's
writing workshops.
-
David Brin, award-winning author, editor, long-time friend of the Center,
and SF activist who helped us found AboutSF.
-
Pat Cadigan,
award-winning author who helped create Cyberpunk, editor, Center alum, and
occasional writer-in-residence for the McKitterick's SF Workshop.
-
Matthew Candelaria, author, editor, scholar, and Center alum
who co-authored and co-edited two books with James Gunn.
-
Benjamin Cartwright, Professor of SF and creative writing, and alum of the
Center.
-
Andy Duncan, award-winning author, scholar, Professor of English at Frostburg State University,
and occasional writer-in-residence for the SF Workshop.
-
Bruce Frey, KU Professor of Educational Psychology and
coordinator of the Statistics (REMS) track of the Educational Psychology and
Research Program.
-
Karen Hellekson,
Center alum and independent scholar.
-
M.H. Hoeflich, KU Distinguished Professor of Law.
-
Elizabeth Anne Hull, author, scholar, Professor, long-time
writer-in-residence of Gunn and McKitterick's Intensive SF Institute and SF Workshop, and juror
for the Campbell Award.
-
John Kessel, multiple award-winning author, Professor of
Creative Writing, writer-in-residence for McKitterick's SF Workshop, and Center alum.
- Neal Kingston, University Distinguished Professor in the department of Educational Psychology at the University of Kansas, in which he also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies, coordinator of the Research, Evaluation, Measurement, and Director of the Achievement and Assessment Institute.
- Kathy Kitts, Professor of Geology, team member on NASA's Genesis Discovery Mission,
planetarium director, and alum of the Center.
-
Michael Levy, author, scholar, former president of SFRA and ICFA, and
Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin.
- Division Head for Events Ruth Lichtwardt, long-time convention organizer, Center affiliate since its earliest days, administrator of the Conference, and Center alum.
-
Gunn Centre Kerala (India) Director Latha Nair,
Professor of English Literature at St Teresa's College. She also headed the
International Conference on World Science Fiction in India 2014.
-
SF Center Lincoln (Nebraska) Director Michael Page, SF
scholar; Lecturer and Laurus Faculty Advisor at the University of Nebraska
Department of English, Gunn Center Fellow since 2013, Academic Programming
Director for the Conference since 2016, and Center alum.
-
Frederik Pohl
(until his death in 2013), was involved in science fiction since the 1930s as a
fan, magazine editor, and author. He was a
SFWA Grand Master,
inducted into the Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1998, served as a
Sturgeon Award juror, and was a long-time writer-in-residence of Gunn and
McKitterick's Intensive
SF Institute and SF Workshop.
-
Pamela Sargent,
award-winning author and editor, and juror for the Campbell Award. Starting in
the 1970s, she edited the Women of Wonder series, the first collections of
science fiction by women.
-
Thomas Seay, author, our first AboutSF Volunteer and Educational-Outreach
Coordinator, and Center alum.
-
Nathaniel Williams, SF author, University of California professor of SF literature,
and Center alum.
- Lisa Yaszek, Regents Professor of Science Fiction Studies in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology;
head of Sci Fi Lab;
and SF studies at Georgia Tech.
-
George
Zebrowski, award-winning author and editor, and juror for the Sturgeon
Award.
Also the following organizational leaders (honorary):
- The Presidents of SFRA, SFWA, and ICFA, in honor of their support and encouragement.
- The leaders of affiliated SF centers and programs in the International
Science Fiction Consortium.
- The current Chair of KU's English Department, in honor of our directors'
long-time affiliation.
We also consult regularly with the Center's diverse group of Affiliated Faculty and other treasured friends.
Board of Directors
Founder James Gunn served as Director from the original Center's establishment, naming
KU Professor Steve Goldman his first Associate Director when it was
first formally recognized.
Founding Director James Gunn (until his death in December 2020), our founder, Grand Master of Science
Fiction, SF Hall of Fame inductee, science
fiction author and scholar and historian, KU Professor Emeritus of English.
Established the Center in 1982 as a Kansas Board of Regents research center. He was a past president of SFWA and
chair of the Campbell Award jury to select the best science-fiction novel of
the year. Professor Gunn also long served on the advisory board of the SF Museum and Hall of Fame
and lived in Lawrence, KS. Jim continued to serve the Center after
his retirement in the mid-1990s until his final days.
Director
Chris
McKitterick, award-winning author, editor, scholar, Senior Faculty in KU English
(2002-2022), and Center alum. Center assistant 1992-1994, Assistant Director
1995-2002, KU faculty since 2002, Associate Director
2002-2009, and Director 2010-2022. Announced resignation as Center Director
after its English Department takeover to launch the
Ad Astra Institute for Science
Fiction & the Speculative Imagination in 2021, continuing our original
legacy of educational outreach and informal education in the field of
speculative fiction.
Associate Director Kij Johnson,
multiple award-winning author, editor, scholar and KU Associate Professor of creative writing in English
since 2012. Affiliated with the Center since 1994, Assistant Director 1995-2001,
and Associate Director 2002-2022. Announced her resignation from the Center
after its English Department takeover.
By-Laws
To ensure the future of the original SF Center, James Gunn and Chris
McKitterick began formally documenting the Center's by-laws in 2004, with the
final revision being published to the Board of Advisors and Trustees, other
major stakeholders, and the incoming English SF Center director in fall, 2021.
It contains a full history of the original Center, an overview of its funds and
their dedicated purposes, and other details expected in a traditional set of
by-laws.
If you are interested in seeing a copy of the original Center's by-laws or
other supporting documentation, such as letters establishing the foundation of
Gunn's original SF Center, its re-establishment under Endowment, or more,
contact the original Center's final director McKitterick (
cmckit.sf@gmail.com ) or KU Spencer
Library's special SF Collection (where the original Center's documents and much
more are deposited) librarian Elspeth Healey ( ehealey@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
).
updated 3/16/2021.
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