The Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles

Collectif Research and Writing Anthology 2027 Call for Papers

Do you want to forge community and ignite your scholarship? Connect with scholars, activists, artists, and others passionate about the advancement of women? Impact a wider audience? By publishing in Collectif, Mount Saint Mary’s University’s interdisciplinary journal of research, writing, and art, you will reach 50,000 potential readers. To celebrate the issue’s release, The Center for the Advancement of Women will host a salon, where contributors can share their work and connect with the Center community.

2027 Theme and Call

The Art of Change: How Women Evolve, Transform, and Remake Themselves in the 21st Century

Responding to both our 2025 and 2026 Reports on the Status of Women and Girls in California, The Art of Change: Women, Leadership and the Power of Representation and the forthcoming Report on the future of women’s work, the Center is currently seeking articles, essays, and creative works (e.g., visual art, prose, poetry, etc.) for the seventh issue of Collectif, to be published in 2027.

The Center invites proposals for Collectif. As Dr. Ann McElaney-Johnson writes in the 2025 edition of The Report on the Status of Women and Girls in CaliforniaTM “the arts and humanities can...effect change in ways we don’t typically consider—to women’s education, financial well-being, even to our health and safety.” This issue of Collectif will explore how women use art and other practices to both document and effect systemic, cultural, and personal change. From harnessing the power of narrative to expanding representation in the arts, to adopting purpose-aligned technology to reenvisioning education models, and beyond, this issue will explore the broad implications of deliberate change-making. Topics may include: activism and the arts, inclusive curation practices, body modification, education in the 21st century, shifting depictions of women and girls in the arts, the role of AI in our evolving workplace, and more.

About Collectif

Collectif is a research and writing anthology published annually by The Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University. Collectif serves as a companion to the Center’s Report on the Status of Women and Girls in CaliforniaTM. The collection features timely articles, essays, and creative works (e.g., creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, photography, art, etc.) that complement our annual Report to ensure that the Center is driving important conversation on achieving gender equity.

The anthology’s name, Collectif, (a collective or group) is a reference to Mount Saint Mary’s roots in Le Puy, France. The Sisters of St. Joseph formed in Le Puy in 1650 and their first charge was to provide vulnerable women avenues for economic security. Sisters taught widows, sex- workers, and other women how to make lace – a practical skill that provided a steady income. As the Sisters grew in numbers, so did their ambitions. They crossed the globe building schools and colleges to educate women. In 1925, Mount Saint Mary’s was established to “equip women to reach their fullest potential. Today, we carry forward their mission, and we do so with many partners — as a collective, or collectif.

About the Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University

The Center is a hub for intersectional gender equity research, advocacy and leadership development. Our vision is to find solutions to persistent gender inequities and work with partners to eradicate them in our lifetime. The Center produces vital data at the local, regional and national levels. Collectif brings scholars, advocates, activists, thought leaders, and artists into conversation as we address complex issues and challenges facing women, girls, families and communities.

Submission Guidelines

Selection Criteria. Research papers, case studies, oral histories, stories, poems, essays, visual art and hybrid forms of written expression are eligible. Selections may:

1. Answer or pose a question related to the women’s relationship to change, focusing on topics that may include but are not limited to activism and the arts, inclusive curation practices, body modification, education in the 21st century, shifting depictions of women and girls in the arts, the role of AI in our evolving workplace, and more.

2. Utilize original data – qualitative or quantitative – or provide support to drive conclusions made in the paper.

3. Utilize Report data in creative and thought-provoking ways

4. Demonstrate an intersectional or hybrid approach.

5. Selections may range in length from 1-15 pages.

Eligibility. Submissions from all academic and artistic disciplines will be considered.

Application. The application should be 1-2 pages long, single-spaced and include the following items:

• Name, organizational affiliation and title of the project

• Abstract of (1) proposed research or case study, including:

o The question or subject under investigation
o The methods employed to investigate the question. Depending

on discipline, this description may vary to include qualitative or quantitative methods, theoretical or interpretive approaches, etc.

o Data sources utilized, if necessary

o Hypotheses/anticipated conclusions

• Or (2) Abstract of proposed creative contribution, including

  o A description of the medium and focus of the submission piece.

• Brief discussion (1-2 paragraphs) of how the proposed submission

  intersects with both the annual theme and Center mission:
  Gender equity is a core focus of the Center’s work. Through collaborative efforts, the Center hopes to find solutions to persistent gender inequities and work to eradicate them in our lifetime. Explain how your proposed work is in alignment with the Center’s mission and the theme of Collectif.

For any questions and to send the complete proposal electronically, contact:

Dr. JoAnna Novak, jnovak@msu.edu Editor-in-Chief, Collectif
Professor and Interim Director, Creative Writing at Mount Saint Mary’s University.