More progress...

Many thanks to everyone who voted in both polls and gave their feedback in the comments sections! We have taken the poll results and your input into consideration in our conversations with each other and with the Office of Development and have made a few decisions about how the prize will be organized. All of these details are pending the final approval of the College. Please note that the prize I'm talking about here is the monetary prize whose description reads:

Awarded annually to the member of the Wells College Community who has demonstrated a commitment to transgender and queer issues, especially through hir services as an ally to the Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer and Allies (TLGBQA) community via activism, visibility, literary, or artistic endeavors.

This does not mean that we've ruled out the idea of an additional, non-monetary honor, but the details mentioned here refer to the monetary prize only.

Here are the basics:

• The prize will be awarded to a student. This detail is subject to review if/when the prize becomes endowed; for now, we felt that this was the most effective way to honor Will's memory through a monetary prize.
  
• The selection of the recipient will be organized as follows:

  The recipient will be chosen by a group of 6 individuals in the Wells community, including a representative of the Dean of Students Office, two members of the student body (one representing Q&A*, and one representing Sex Collective*), the current faculty member assigned to teach the W401*, the previous years’ recipient of the William Nicholas Liberi ‘05 Memorial Prize and an alumna or alumnus of Wells College designated by the William Nicholas Liberi Memorial Fund Advisory Board.

  * Should there fail to be a Q&A organization, a Sex Collective, or a WS401 instructor during the selection year for the prize a new rep will be selected by the Advisory Board Chairs.
  

• The amount awarded will vary depending on funds donated each year. The minimum amount will be $250.
  

You may notice that we've mentioned an Advisory Board; this is Carrie's brilliant idea! We've designed the Advisory Board as a way to include all of you in the process of selecting the prize recipients. We envision the Advisory Board functioning as follows:

• Anyone interested in joining the Advisory Board may submit their name and e-mail address via the blog (here) or via e-mail to willmemorial@gmail.com.
  
• The Advisory Board Chairs are Carrie and me. We will serve as the acting members for the first two years that the prize is awarded.
• Advisory Board members will be ranked at random on a numbered list and will be informed of their numbered rank as soon as the roster is finalized.
  
• Beginning in 2010, the Advisory Board member at position #1 will serve as acting Board member and will participate in the selection process in cooperation with the prize selection committee as detailed above.
  
• Acting member responsibilities will progress down the list in numbered order and will begin again with the Advisory Board Chairs followed by position #1, etc., when the list has been exhausted.
• The Advisory Board Chairs will be responsible for keeping the Advisory Board informed of relevant news and upcoming selection committee responsibilities.
  

So, if you want to be on the Advisory Board, leave your comments here with full name as you want it to appear on the Advisory Board roster and an e-mail address that you check often! If you don't want to post it here, e-mail us at willmemorial@gmail.com. We'll be setting a deadline, so look for that soon, and stay tuned for more updates!

(Don't forget, if you want to receive an e-mail whenever we post something new to the blog, enter your e-mail address in the box at the top of the right-hand side panel!)