Donna Potts

Background

About Donna Potts

I've done thousands of hours of community service advocating for victims of sexual violence. I served for seven years as a moderator for Pandora’s Project, “a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing support, and resources to survivors of rape and sexual abuse and their friends and family;” trained extensively, and served, as a phone volunteer for the Rape, Abuse, and Incest Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization; and volunteered for and trained with Veronica’s Voice, for survivors of sex trafficking. I served as the chair of the Committee on Women in the Academic Profession (Association of University Professors), during which I was cited by Senator John McCain. I co-authored, with Paula Treichler, the AAUP’s statement on campus rape. One of my main research and teaching areas is Literature and Trauma Theory. My article, ‘Irish Poetry and Trauma Theory,” is forthcoming, in MLA Options in Teaching Irish Poetry. Eds. Guinn Batten and Anna Teekell, 2024. My article, “Professing to Power,” was published in Laura Gray-Rosendale, in Me Too, Feminist Theory, and Surviving Sexual Violence in the Academy (Lexington Press, 2019), and addressed sexual harassment, rape, and intimate partner violence. I've published articles on sexual violence in many venues: “For Victims of Domestic Violence, Blame and Shame are All Too Common” (Spokesman Review, April 21, 2024); “Our Collective Apathy about Gang Rape” (Chronicle of Higher Education, December 12, 2014); “Service, Sex Work, and the Profession” (Academe Nov-Dec. 2012); “For a Victim of Rape, Silence is no Benefit.” (Chronicle of Higher Education, March 27, 2011). I've given keynotes and talks, and served on roundtables and panels, on sexual violence, around the world, including: “Harassment and Discrimination,” WSU English Graduate Organization (10/23/2019, Pullman WA); “Keywords in Irish Studies: Trauma” (American Conference for Irish Studies, Western Region, Portland, Oregon, October 11, 2019); “Harassment over Time: When #MeToo becomes #MeThen and #MeAgain” (MLA Chicago, 3 January, 2019); “Reading Ophelia’s Madness” Goa, India, March 12, 2018.(Invited Lecture); “Sick of All this Shit about Harassment.” MLA Women’s Caucus, Austin, TX, Jan. 8, 2016; “Campus Sexual Assault,” Plenary Session, Academy of Management, Vancouver BC. August 10th, 2015; “There’s a Policy for that: The AAUP’s Policies on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault” (MLA, Vancouver, BC, Jan. 8, 2015);"Rape Myths and Rape Culture," Washington Sexual Assault Prevention Conference (U.W, Seattle, Oct.