The Medieval Academy Blog

Katherine Ludwig Jansen has been appointed the new editor of Speculum, beginning 1 July 2019.

Jansen will continue as Professor of History at the Catholic University of America, where she has chaired the Department of History, served as interim director of the Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies, and cofounded the university’s Rome Center. She received her PhD from Princeton University, and has held visiting professorships both at Princeton and at Johns Hopkins University. Her first book, The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages (2000), won several prizes; her second monograph, Peace and Penance in Late Medieval Italy, was published last year. She has also co-edited three volumes: Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation; Charisma and Religious Authority: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Preaching, 1200-1500; and Center and Periphery: Studies on Power in the Medieval World in Honor of William Chester Jordan. She has held NEH, ACLS, and Fulbright fellowships as well as residential fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), Villa I Tatti, and the American Academy in Rome.

During her tenure, Catholic University will house the editorial offices of Speculum on its campus. Books for review should be sent to the Medieval Academy’s new office in Boston until further notice (see below); please check the Speculum web page for updates. Sarah Spence, the current editor, continues in her role until 31 August and will handle the production of issues that are already in process, while Jansen will deal mainly with new submissions until that time.

The Medieval Academy welcomes Kate, and thanks Sallie for her leadership and service, CUA for its support of Speculum and medieval studies, the search committee (chaired by David Wallace) for its hard work, and everyone involved for their patience.

As we begin to transition Speculum into the hands and DC-office of incoming Editor Katherine Jansen (see announcement above), the administrative office of the Medieval Academy is moving as well. As of June 1, you will find us at:

6 Beacon St., Suite 500
Boston, Massachusetts 02108

This move takes us out of Harvard Square for the first time since our establishment in 1925. Around the corner from Boston Common, behind the historic Granary Burying Ground, down the street from the State House, and next door to the Boston Athenaeum, this new location will situate us within easy reach of all of Boston’s academic, historic, and cultural institutions. Step off the Freedom Trail and come by for a visit!

By Laura Morreale

I don’t attend the Kalamazoo Congress every year, but when I do, I am always happy to have made the trip. The Congress attracts a large number of medievalist colleagues and takes place in roughly the center of the continent, so attendees are more widely representative of the field, in terms of both geographical and professional placement, than at many other medievalist-oriented events. Even if some of our colleagues opt out from one year to the next, the conference brings together a broad spectrum of fellow medievalists and reminds us that the diversity we see at the conference is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive.

This year, since I am working on the MAA initiative to promote greater awareness of professional diversity in our field, I was particularly mindful of the numerous ways and spaces in which medievalists use the skills we all share, from graduate students still learning the ropes, to friends and colleagues who work in libraries, study centers, publishing houses, computer companies, rare book shops, museum curatorial or development departments, university administrative offices, and other places too numerous to list. Striking also are the multiple positions and environments in which we teach our craft: as tenured or tenure-track professors, full- or part-time lecturers, in community colleges, SLACs, high schools, K-12 institutions, or R1 universities, or even in podcasts, blogposts, or publicly-oriented writing.

Despite the diversity of professional practice we witness among our fellow medievalists, the jobs of tenured or tenure-track professors have traditionally been pegged as the norm in the field, and structures of support in our medievalist organizations are often attuned to the challenges inherent in these particular employment environments. The Ad Hoc committee on professional diversity  approved by the MAA Council this past March, and assembled by President Ruth Karras shortly thereafter, has been tasked with recognizing colleagues working beyond the professorate and determining how the MAA might support their continued medievalist work. Committee members are themselves differently-placed within the arc of the profession; Mary Rambaran-Olm and I work as independent scholars, Lisa Fagin Davis and Raymond Clemens hold full-time non-professorial positions in academic or academic-adjacent organizations, and Adam Kosto and Sarah Davis-Secord are both tenured professors working at two different universities. Both Kosto and Davis-Secord have worked with the Mellon foundation in recent years to promote graduate-student exploration into a variety of professional pathways, and other members bring years of accumulated experience and networking to the discussion. We are honored to have been entrusted with this charge and will do our best to serve MAA members as best we can.

Although it is still early days, the goals we have set for ourselves over the course of the next year are two-fold: first, to suggest specific, short-term actions that will address the challenges faced by medievalists working outside of traditionally-conceived university teaching positions; and second, to promote a shift in culture over the long term so that contributions made by those working outside of the professorate will be readily recognized as meaningful, valid, and beneficial to the medievalist conversation more generally.

Keeping the short-term actions in mind, we will reach out soon to survey the needs of our non-traditionally employed members and fold their concerns into our committee work. The position paper, Towards an Inclusive Intellectual Community for Medievalists: A Plan of Action for Professional Diversity, offers a starting point for such efforts, but new ideas and perspectives are welcome and desired. Part of the long-term culture shift will be achieved by de-mystifying what medievalists working outside of the professorate actually do, and profiling how they contribute to the profession.

What is clear is that a greater acceptance and acknowledgement of professional diversity in the field will only be achieved if we rely on actions taken by medievalists throughout the profession. Good will abounds here; but be prepared to be called upon in these efforts in the coming months! We all have the power to shape our own intellectual community to fit our needs, and I appreciate the generosity I see among medievalists every time we come together, at Kalamazoo or anywhere else along the way.

Laura Morreale

Interoperability and Medieval Manuscripts:
A Digital Humanities Workshop

The Medieval Academy of America is now accepting applications for “Interoperability and Medieval Manuscripts,” a three-day digital humanities workshop co-sponsored by The Medieval Academy and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. Co-taught by Benjamin Albritton (Computing Info Systems Analyst, Stanford University Libraries) and Lisa Fagin Davis (Executive Director, Medieval Academy of America), the workshop will take place at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library from 9-11 July 2019.

Participants in this three-day intensive workshop will be introduced to the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) in combination with shared-canvas viewers and annotation servers, learning how this technology can facilitate new methodologies in manuscript and art history research. Working with their own images, participants will 1) upload their images into a IIIF server (if they aren’t already served by a IIIF-compliant platform); 2) present the images in a shared-canvas viewer; 3) work with the instructors to develop annotations and tags in keeping with their research project. Due to physical space limitations, the course is limited to twelve participants. Applications are welcomed from medievalists at all levels and will be judged primarily on the potential that interoperable images hold for the applicant’s research project or professional goals. Participants should already have access to or possession of the images they will be working with, if the images are not already online and IIIF-compliant. The workshop is tuition-free, but participants are responsible for travel, lodging, and incidental expenses. To help offset these costs, all participants traveling and staying overnight for the workshop will receive a $300 stipend courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Applications must be received by June 1. Click here for more information and to apply.

The 95th Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley on 26-28 March 2020. The meeting is jointly hosted by the Medieval Academy of America, the Program in Medieval Studies of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Medieval Association of the Pacific. The Call for Papers is online here. Submissions are due on 1 June.

If you’re going to be at the Leeds International Medieval Congress this year, please join us Tuesday evening (2 July) at 7 PM in the Ruper Beckett Theatre for the Medieval Academy of America Annual Lecture:

Aden Kumler (University of Chicago), “‘The Gift of Screws’: Material Un-Making in the Middle Ages”

Afterwards, join Prof. Kumler and MAA staff members for the Medieval Academy’s open-bar wine reception.

The Medieval Academy’s Graduate Student Committee roundtable, “How to Sell Your Post-Graduate Degree in Medieval Studies Outside the Tenure-Track Job Market,” will take place on Monday at 7 PM. The GSC reception will take place on Tuesday from 8-10 pm at the Old Bar.

We hope to see you there!

To the Members of the Medieval Academy of America:

I am very pleased to announce the following important changes to the Medieval Academy of America By-Laws, as recommended by the Centennial Committee and recently approved by the Council:

Article 23. There shall be a Nominating Committee composed of six members and a chair. Of the six members, two will be elected each year to serve for three years. Each year the President will nominate four members of the Academy to stand for election to the Nominating Committee, and other members may be nominated by petition as specified below (Article 26). The chair of the Committee will be appointed by the President from among members of former Nominating Committees to serve for one year.

What this means: The Nominating Committee formerly consisted of four elected members serving in classes of two for two-year staggered terms, in addition to an appointed Chair. From now on, the Nominating Committee will be expanded to six elected members serving in classes of two for three-year staggered terms, in addition to an appointed Chair. The impending change to Article 24 (see below) will give the Nominating Committee more work to do, and so the Committee will be expanded accordingly.

Article 24. The Nominating Committee shall nominate at least two members of the Academy for each vacancy among the Councillors. It shall nominate one member of the Academy for vacancies in the offices of President and First Vice-President, and, as of 1 February 2020, three members for the office of Second Vice-President. Normally, the Second Vice-President will proceed to the first vice-presidency, and First Vice-President to the presidency. Should the office of Second or First Vice-President be vacant, the Nominating Committee shall nominate three members of the Academy for the office of First Vice-President or President respectively.

The Nominating Committee exercises its powers independent of the Officers and the Council. It may consult with anyone whom it chooses. The Executive Director shall provide the Nominating Committee with such information as it requires in advance of its deliberation and shall attend such portions of its meetings as he or she is invited to attend to provide further information about members. On completion of the Committee’s deliberation, the Executive Director, if asked to do so by the Committee, shall as promptly as possible ascertain potential candidates’ willingness to appear on the ballot and report back to the Committee. In making its choice of candidates the Committee shall take into consideration factors leading to diversity of nominees.

What this means: Beginning with the 2021 governance election – to be held in the fall of 2020 – the Second Vice-President will be selected from a slate of three nominees instead of running unopposed.

Article 27: The elected officers of the Academy, the Councillors, and the members of the Nominating Committee shall be elected by electronic or mail ballot by a majority vote of all members of the Academy who vote. Such ballot shall include all members nominated by the Nominating Committee and those nominated by petition as specified in Article 26. The ballot for positions with two or more candidates shall be conducted by ranked choice voting. Every non-institutional member of the Academy shall be entitled to one vote for each position on the election ballot and one vote in person upon each subject properly submitted to a vote of the members at the annual meeting or any special meeting. Institutional members are not entitled to vote. The terms of the newly-elected officers, Councillors, and members of the Nominating Committee shall begin at the end of the annual meeting.

What this means: This change asserts the validity of online voting and clarifies the process for determining the results of the online governance election.

Article 37:
These By-Laws may be amended by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the Council. Any amendment to the by-laws adopted by the Council shall be noticed to the members in the announcement of the next meeting of the members, and any amendment adopted by the Council may be amended or repealed by the members at that meeting.

What this means: It is no longer required that the Fellows be consulted regarding proposed changes to the By-Laws. To ensure compliance with the previous version of this Article, the Fellows were consulted at the recent Fellows’ Meeting and gave their assent.

The updated By-Laws are posted on our website.

Please consult our FAQ page for additional information about our governance and organizational structure. As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions about the Medieval Academy of America.

– Lisa

Lisa Fagin Davis
Executive Director
Medieval Academy of America

MAA/CARA 2019 Summer Scholarships are being awarded to the following students:

Christine Elizabeth Bachman (University of Delaware), London International Palaeography Summer School at the University of London

Sarah Elaine Mathiesen (Florida State University), Byzantine Greek at the International Byzantine Greek Summer School (IBGSS), Trinity College, Dublin

Lindsay R. Miller (Wayne State University), “The Medieval Book” at Western Michigan University

Basil Arnould Price (Arizona State University), Summer School in Scandinavian Manuscript Studies at the University of Copenhagen

Casey Smedberg (University of Connecticut), “Fifteenth-Century Books in Print and Manuscript” at The Rare Book School, University of Virginia

Andrew Robert Smith (Saint Louis University), Advanced Arabic at Al-Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco

Dillon Brian-Thomas Webster (Brown University), Latin at the University of Toronto, Centre for Medieval Studies

Congratulations! We are very pleased to support these students as they undertake summer coursework.

We’ve got a lot of good news to share this month!

Patrick Geary (Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton Univ.) was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Marian and Andrew Heiskell Rome Prize has been awarded to Joel Pattison (Univ. of California, Berkeley) for his project, “Trade and Religious Boundaries in the Medieval Maghreb: Genoese Merchants, their Products, and Islamic Law.”

The Donald and Maria Cox/Samuel H. Kress Foundation Rome Prize has been awarded to Alexis Wang (Columbia Univ.) for her project, “Intermedial Effects, Sanctified Surfaces: Framing Devotional Objects in Italian Medieval Mural Decoration.”

Dawn Marie Hayes (Montclair State Univ.) has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Program to further develop The Norman Sicily Project (http://normansicily.org).

Andreea Marculescu (Univ. of Oklahoma) has been awarded a Franklin Research Grant from American Philosophical Society to support research for her monograph Happiness in the Middle Ages.

Racha Kirakosian (Harvard Univ.) will be a fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study at Uppsala next year.

Bonnie Effros (Univ. of Liverpool) has been awarded a Lambarde research grant from the Society of Antiquaries of London and a Franklin Research grant from the American Philosophical Society for her project “Ancient Relics and Christian History: A Jesuit Archaeologist in Late Nineteenth-Century Poitiers.”

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships have been awarded to: Lorenzo Bondioli (Princeton Univ.), “Peasants, Merchants, and Caliphs: Capital and Empire in Fatimid Egypt, 900-1200 CE”; Anna Kelner (Harvard Univ.), “Tempting Visions: Women’s Visionary Writing and Its Regulation in Late Medieval England”; Chelsea Rae Silva (Univ. of California, Riverside), “Bedwritten: Middle English Medicine and the Ailing Author”; Rachel Q. Welsh (New York Univ.), “Proof in the Body: Ordeal, Justice, and the Physical Manifestation of Proof in Medieval Iberia, ca. 1050-1300.”

Congratulations! If you have good news to share, please send it to Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis (LFD@themedievalacademy.org)