The Medieval Academy Blog

2026 Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting:
Consortiums and Confluences
Call for Papers

The 101st annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place on March 19–21, 2026 on the campuses of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Amherst College, and will also include events at Mt. Holyoke College and Smith College. Hosted by the Five College Consortium, the theme of the meeting is “Consortiums and Confluences.” The program will bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds addressing the medieval world and critical topics in Medieval Studies. Our plenary lectures will be given by Elly Truitt (Associate Professor of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania), Peggy McCracken (Incoming President of the Medieval Academy of America and Professor of French, Women’s Studies, and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan), and Jesús Rodríguez-Velasco (Augustus R. Street Professor of Spanish & Portuguese and Comparative Literature at Yale University). We are excited to welcome you to Amherst, MA, and its environs, and look forward to meeting you, learning from you, and celebrating our shared commitment to Medieval Studies.

Click here for more information and the full Call for Papers.

As ever, the Medieval Academy will have a strong presence at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. We hope you will join us for these sessions and special events:

1) The Friday morning plenary, sponsored by the Academy, will be delivered by Haruko Momma (New York University), “Intersectional Onomastics in Medieval Studies: Terms, Terminology, and Theories of Naming” (8:30 AM, Sangren 1910). Two related sessions organized by Prof. Momma will take place on Friday at 1:30 PM (Session 203, Sangren Hall 1910, “Intersectional Onomastics (1): Names and Race/Ethnicity/Globality”) and 3:30 PM (Session 253, Sangren Hall 1910, “Intersectional Onomastics (2): Names and Gender/Sexuality/Queerness”).

2) The Graduate Student Committee Roundtable “Publishing as a Grad Student: A Follow-Up” will take place on Saturday at 10 AM (Session 323, Sangren Hall 2730 (hybrid)). In addition, please join the Graduate Student Committee for their annual ICMS Mixer on Thursday evening from 6-7 PM in Kanley Chapel, room 1060.

3) The MAA Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee is co-sponsoring a workshop titled “Digital Pedagogies for a Medieval World: Public Digital Humanities in the Classroom” on Thursday at 10 AM (Sangren Hall 2710 (hybrid)).

4) Finally, we invite you to visit our staffed table in the exhibit hall to introduce yourself, transact any Medieval Academy business you may have, or pick up some chocolate to keep you going during those long afternoon sessions. As in the past, we will be giving away fifty free one-year memberships to new members, so spread the word!

See you at the ‘Zoo!

If you’re going to be at the Leeds International Medieval Congress this year, please join us on Tuesday, 8 July, 19.00-20.00 (Session 901) for the annual Medieval Academy Lecture, to be delivered by Xiaofei Tian (Department of East Asian Languages & Civilizations, Harvard University), “The Margins of Knowing: A Place for the Extraordinary in an Ordinary World.” Afterwards, join Prof. Tian and MAA governance and staff members for the Medieval Academy’s open-bar wine reception.

The Medieval Academy’s Graduate Student Committee roundtable will take place Monday, 7 July, 19:00-20:00 (Session 021): “How to Conference.” Participants include Carrie Beneš (New College of Florida), Kathryn Gerry (Bowdoin University, Maine), Carolin Gluchowski (Universität Hamburg), Rebekkah Hart (Case Western Reserve University, Ohio), Natalie Hopwood (University of Leeds), Megan Renz Perry (Yale University), and Liene Rokpelne (Latvijas Universitāte, Rīga / Valmieras muzejs).

We hope to see you there!

What Makes Great Medieval Associations?
CARA on Zoom, Tuesday May 13th, 1pm-2pm EST

The MAA’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations invites you to join us for a panel discussion by leaders of groups across the US and Canada on “what makes our association great?” Please join us as five leaders of medieval associations in the US and Canada discuss what makes theirs energizing, productive, and rewarding. We will address a number of issues as well as the personal challenges and rewards that come from supporting different medieval associations. We invite all to the conversation, which will include time for whole-group discussion. Topics include questions of membership, sustainability, finances, value, outreach, regionality (or not), mentoring, and hopes & dreams for the future.

Panelists
Katherine Bezio (Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association)
Natalie Grinnell (Southeastern Medieval Assocation)
Heather Maring (Medieval Association of the Pacific)
Shannon McSheffrey (Canadian Society of Medievalists)
Montserrat Piera (Delaware Valley Medieval Association)

Moderator
Virginia Blanton (Mid-America Medieval Association, CARA Executive Committee)

Click here to register.

As part of the celebrations for the MAA’s Centennial Year, the Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee and the Graduate Student Committee have partnered to organize a year-long series of webinars showcasing exciting DH projects. These will ordinarily take place on the third Friday of each month, from 1-2pm ET. Each session will feature a moderated discussion of two recent/ongoing DH projects followed by an audience Q&A. Beyond highlighting a diverse array of new and exciting projects in Medieval Studies, this series will also serve as an opportunity to share ideas and best practices within the medieval DH community.

Friday, May 16, 1-2 pm ET: Books of Duchesses (S.C. “Kappie” Kaplan); and Medieval Anglo-Jewish Women 1154-1307 (Adrienne Williams Boyarin).

To register for this webinar series, please fill out the form by clicking here.

I am very pleased to announce the new MAA committee members, recently appointed by the Council in accordance with our policies and procedures:

Conferences:

American Historical Association Program Committee: Peter Sposato (Indiana Univ. Kokomo)

Kalamazoo Program Committee: Tory Schendel-Vyvoda (Evansville African American Museum)

Leeds Program Committee: Charles Atkinson (The Ohio State Univ.)

Grants:

Olivia Remie Constable Award Committee: Wendy Scase (Birmingham Univ.)

Inclusivity & Diversity Prize Committee: Leah Parker (Univ. of Southern Mississippi), Laura Tillery (Hamilton College)

Committee for Professional Development: Elizabeth Schirmer (New Mexico State Univ.)

Schallek Committee: Anne R. Stanton (Univ. of Missouri)

Professional Support:

Advocacy Committee: Peter K. Simpson (Independent Scholar), Alejandro Granados Turrey (Univ. of Southern California, Nathanial Wallace (South Carolina State Univ.)

CARA Executive Board: Lucy Barnhouse (Arkansas State Univ.), Christina Christoforatou Konstantinis (Baruch College, CUNY), Katherine Allen Smith (Univ. of Puget Sound)

Database of Medieval Digital Resources Committee: Andrea Nanetti (Dumbarton Oaks), Lisa Reilly (Univ. of Virginia)

Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee: Monica brinzei (CNRS-IRHT)

Graduate Student Committee: Summer Block Lizer (Claremont Graduate Univ.), Novella Frasier (Rutgers Univ.), Sean Widlake (Rutgers Univ.)

Inclusivity & Diversity Committee: Leigh Ann Craig (Virginia Commonwealth Univ.)

K-12 Committee: Liberty Huther (Univ. of Missouri), Brad Phillis (Appalachian State Univ.)

Publications Advisory Board: Helen Fulton (Univ. of Bristol)

Publication Prizes:

Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize Committee: Lori Kruckenberg (Univ. of Oregon)

Karen Gould Prize Committee: Margaret Graves (Brown Univ.)

Monica H. Green Prize Committee: Merle Eisenberg (Oklahoma State Univ.)

Haskins Medal Committee: Heather Blurton (Univ. of California, Santa Barbara)

Jerome E. Singerman Prize Committee: Ephraim Kanarfogel (Yeshive Univ.)

Governance:

MAA Program Committee Representative: Sean Gilsdorf (Harvard Univ.)

Fellows President: Anne D Hedeman (Univ. of Kansas)

Finance Committee: Grover Zinn (Oberlin College), Treasurer; Valerie Garver (Northern Illinois Univ.)

I look forward to working with these new volunteers and the continuing committee members (all of whom are listed on the MAA website: About -> Committees). I am so grateful to all of our volunteers for their service to the Academy and to our field. We could not do our work without you!

– Lisa

Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director

p.s. if you are interested in being considered for committee service next year, please fill out this form (if you have filled it out in the past, please do so again so that we are certain to have your up-to-date preferences in hand).

Don’t forget to renew your MAA Membership for 2025! You must renew by June 30 to avoid an interruption of benefits. Your MAA membership provides you with numerous exclusive benefits, including:

• A subscription to Speculum – the premier journal of Medieval Studies – and electronic access to the entire run from 1926 to the present;
• Eligibility for our many grants and fellowships, totalling more than $117,000 annually;
• Eligibility for our publication prizes;
• Eligibility to serve on one of our dozens of volunteer committees or elected governance;
• Participation in our Annual Meeting;
• and more!

Your membership dues also help others in the field, providing mentoring and financial support for graduate students, junior scholars, and medievalists outside the tenure track. As scholarship increasingly recognizes a more expansive Middle Ages, your dues work to build a more inclusive Medieval Studies.

Your membership dues support the highest-quality research in all fields of Medieval Studies, and we sincerely hope that you will renew your valued membership in the Academy as we continue this work in 2024. You can easily renew your membership online or by returning this form. Thank you for your support.

Peggy McCracken (University of Michigan), President
Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director

2025 Guggenheim Fellowships have been awarded to several MAA members: Thomas Burman (Univ. of Notre Dame), Cecilia Gaposchkin (Dartmouth College), Katherine Jansen (Catholic Univ. of America, and Editor of Speculum).

John Mulhall (Purdue Univ.) has been awarded the 2025-2026 Paul Mellon Rome Prize in Medieval Studies to work on his book project, The Republic of Translators: Latin, Greek, Arabic, and a New Age of Science, Philosophy, and Theology in the Twelfth Century.

Congratulations! if you have good news to share, please send it to Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis.