News/Research

Announcing the 2013 BCNM Susan Miller Fellow

20 Nov, 2013

Announcing the 2013 BCNM Susan Miller Fellow

The Berkeley Center for New Media is pleased to announce that the inaugural 2013 Susan Miller Fellowship has been awarded to Sarah Stierch, museumist, community organizer, and open culture advocate.

The Susan Miller Fellowship seeks to support the work of a practitioner or academic who is making a significant contribution to promoting the advancement of women in the field of new media, as well as fostering engagement, excellence, and new perspectives in this emerging discipline.

This year’s recipient Sarah Stierch embodies these ideals. Sarah has worked as a community organizer for the Wikimedia Foundation, and was responsible for developing help systems and programming to increase women’s participation in the editing of Wikipedia. She has also played an integral role in Fembot, an organization that offers a space for cutting-edge academic scholarship on gender, new media and technology. She herself acts as a role model for women in new media through her extensive open access outreach and publication history. She has generated much momentum in this field through her successful lectures and talks on issues of women in technology, museums, and Wikipedia.

The Susan Miller Fellowship offers recipients a six month Visiting Scholar position at the Berkeley Center for New Media. Scholars receive space in Sutardja Dai Hall, access to UC Berkeley libraries and resources, as well as an honorarium and funds to support their research projects.

The Fellowship is named after Susan Miller, an active Bay Area curator and arts administrator whose work has provided essential support to the advancement of women in new media, continuing through a wide range of curatorial and academic programs to the present day. Miller was the Executive Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media from 2008 to 2012.

The Fellowship is generously funded through a gift from Meyer Sound. Meyer Sound produces high-quality products for sound reinforcement and recording, designed to meet the real challenges faced by audio practitioners.

We are proud to have Sarah Stierch join us as our first Berkeley Center for New Media Susan Miller Fellow.