The Medieval Academy Blog

On 2 January, the Council of the Medieval Academy approved the MAA Professional Behavior Policy that lays out expectations for comportment during the Annual Meeting and establishes a structure for reporting and responding to violations of the Policy.

The policy on harassment begins, quite deliberately, with a vision of the kind of Medieval Academy we would like to see: one in which every member and attendee, of whatever academic degree or rank, whatever gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or age is treated with respect and professionalism. When we invited the membership to share their experiences and views with us, some of you indicated that you were not aware of an existing problem. Indeed, if you and your acquaintances have never been treated with anything but respect at conferences, congratulations on your good fortune. We hope that is the case for most medievalists, and we hope you will pass on the respect to other colleagues, particularly those who may be vulnerable because they are students, in precarious employment status, or members of underrepresented or historically disadvantaged groups. We urge everyone to think about how their actions and words may affect others; intentions do not always make a difference in how the recipient feels.

The policy provides a place for someone who thinks they have been harassed or bullied to turn. This is in addition to the policies of the host institution, which apply to the conference and which will be stated in the program. The Ad Hoc committee hopes, however, that the main usefulness of the policy will be not the provision of a remedy, but an awareness among the membership of these issues, which will lead to a situation where no one experiences harassment or bullying.

– Ad Hoc Committee on Harassment

Ruth Mazo Karras (Chair)
Theodore Chelis
Wan-Chuan Kao
Laura Morreale
Therese Martin
Michelle Sauer

I am very pleased to announce the results of the 2019 governance election, which closed at 11:59 PM on Jan. 2:

President: Ruth Mazo Karras (Trinity College Dublin)
1st VP: Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (Univ. of Pittsburgh)
2nd VP: Thomas Dale (Univ. of Wisconsin)

Council: 
Lynda Coon (Univ. of Arkansas)
Hussein Fancy (Univ. of Michigan)
Fiona Griffiths (Stanford Univ.)
Anne Latowsky (Univ. of South Florida)

Nominating Committee: 
Jessica L. Goldberg (Univ. of California, Los Angeles)
Sif Rikhardsdottir (Univ. of Iceland)

My thanks to all who voted and to all who stood for election, and my congratulations to all who were elected.

Lisa Fagin Davis
Executive Director, Medieval Academy of America

Registration for the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America is now open!

The meeting will take place at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, from 7-9 March 2019. The program, registration, and hotel information are available here. Register by January 15 to take advantage of the early-bird discount, and make your hotel reservations as soon as possible to lock in discounted rates.

https://www.medievalacademy.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1125496

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!

The Medieval Academy of America is proud to announce the launch of the MAA Database of Medieval Digital Resources (MDR).

MDR is a curated WordPress database of peer-reviewed online resources for the study of the Middle Ages. The database is designed to help students, teachers, researchers, and the general public navigate the potentially overwhelming number of online resources by directing users to trusted, vetted sites. Users can browse an alphabetical list or search using controlled-vocabulary subject tags to find vetted online resources of many types: imagebanks; bibliographies and reference works; pedagogical tools; editions and translations; music and other multimedia collections; interpretative websites; and new works of digital scholarship. Please note that in order to ensure that all medievalists have access to recommended resources, the database will not include those that are paywalled or require password access, although some resources may have restrictive use-licenses. The Database can be accessed from the Resources tab of the Medieval Academy of America website.

Recommended resources are vetted for inclusion in MDR by at least two experts (usually a subject specialist from the Speculum Review Editorial Board and a member of the MAA’s Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee) with reference to the rigorous Standards for Web Publication developed several years ago by the Medieval Academy’s Digital Initiatives Advisory Board (active from 2013-2017). Every resource, no matter who is responsible for creating it or how well-loved it may already be, must go through the same vetting process. No resource will be included until and unless it has passed muster with MAA reviewers. This rigorous process ensures that all users – K-16 educators, undergraduate and graduate students, independent scholars, curators, librarians, researchers, developers, and the general public – can use the database with confidence. By the same token, developers of approved resources may wish to tout their site’s inclusion in the database by adding the MDR logo (contact the Executive Director for more for information about the MDR logo and its use).

The Medieval Academy of America gratefully acknowledges the many digital humanists and medievalists who have contributed to this effort. The data model was developed by Maryanne Kowaleski (Fordham Univ.), Lisa Bitel (Univ. of Southern California), and MAA Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis, with input from the Digital Initiatives Advisory Board and the Digital Humanities and Multimedia Studies Committee. The website and search engine were developed by Morgan Kay of WP Alchemists.

MDR currently includes more than 130 resources and is growing daily. If you do not see your favorite resource(s) in MDR, please submit a Suggest a Resource form; do not contact the Medieval Academy directly. For general comments or questions, or to report any errors or other problems, please fill out the Feedback Form.

The Database of Medieval Digital Resources is a work in progress, and we welcome your feedback and recommendations.

The Medieval Academy of America is currently accepting self-nominations for vacancies opening up on the Graduate Student Committee (GSC) for the 2018-2020 term. The GSC comprises six members appointed for a two- year term on a rotating basis. There are three openings to be filled. Self-nominations are open to all graduate students, worldwide, who are members of the MAA and have at least two years remaining in their program of study.

The GSC represents and promotes the participation of graduate student medievalists within the MAA and the broader academic community. In addition to fostering international and interdisciplinary exchange, the GSC is dedicated to providing guidance on research, teaching, publishing, professionalization, funding, and employment, as well as offering a forum for the expression of the concerns and interests of our colleagues. Our responsibilities, thus, include organizing pre-professionalizing panels and social events annually at ICMS Kalamazoo, the MAA Annual Meeting, IMC Leeds, and biennially at ANZAMEMS. We also run a successful and popular Mentorship Program that pairs graduate students with faculty to discuss any aspect of our profession such as teaching, publishing, finding a successful work/life balance, maneuvering the job market, and more. In addition, we seek to bring together graduate students through virtual communities such as the growing Graduate Student Group on the MAA website, Facebook, Twitter, the med-grad listserv, and a regular newsletter.

GSC members are asked to attend the Committee’s annual business meeting at Kalamazoo for the duration of their term and to communicate regularly with the group via email and Skype. Ideal applicants are expected to work well both independently and as part of a team in a collaborative environment. Previous experience with organizing conference panels and social events, as well as facility with social and digital media are not required, but may be a benefit.

Interested applicants should submit the following by January 15, 2019:

– The Nomination Form

– A brief CV (2 pages maximum) uploaded as part of the Nomination Form;

– A recommendation letter from your faculty advisor, sent to the Executive Director of the Medieval Academy by mail or as a PDF attachment (on letterhead with signature), to LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org.

New members will be selected by the Committee on Committees (in consultation with the current GSC) and confirmed by the Council of the Medieval Academy at the 2019 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, 7-9 March. If you have any questions, please contact us at gsc@themedievalacademy.org.

Click here to apply.

Are you interested in attending the 2019 Medieval Academy Annual Meeting (University of Pennsylvania, 7-9 March 2019) but need some financial assistance to get to Philadelphia? The GSC has re-allocated a portion of its annual budget to offer graduate student travel bursaries of $200-300 to support attendance at the conference. To apply, you must be a graduate student member of the Medieval Academy and explain why attendance at the meeting is important to your research. The Annual Meeting program is online here. Apply here by January 15.

N.B.: This travel funding is for students who are NOT presenting at the meeting but would like to attend.

Belle Da Costa Greene Award (deadline 15 February)
Applications are now being accepted for the inaugural Belle Da Costa Greene Award supporting research by medievalists of color.

The Belle Da Costa Greene Award of $2,000 will be granted annually to a member of the Medieval Academy of America for research and travel. The award may be used to visit archives, attend conferences, or to facilitate writing and research. The award will be granted on the basis of the quality of the proposed project, the applicant’s budgetary needs (as expressed by a submitted budget and in the project narrative), and the estimation of the ways in which the award will facilitate the applicant’s research and contribute to the field. Special consideration will be given to graduate students, emerging junior scholars, adjunct, and unaffiliated scholars. Click here for more information. Click here to make a donation in support of the Greene Award.

Olivia Remie Constable Award (deadline 15 February):
Four Olivia Remie Constable Awards of $1,500 each will be granted to emerging junior faculty, adjunct or unaffiliated scholars (broadly understood: post-doctoral, pre-tenure) for research and travel. Click here for more information.

MAA Dissertation Grants (deadline 15 February):
The nine annual Medieval Academy Dissertation Grants support advanced graduate students who are writing Ph.D. dissertations on medieval topics. The $2,000 grants help defray research expenses. Click here for more information.

Schallek Awards (deadline 15 February):
The five annual Schallek awards support graduate students conducting doctoral research in any relevant discipline dealing with late-medieval Britain (ca. 1350-1500). The $2,000 awards help defray research expenses. Click here for more information.

MAA/GSC Grant for Innovation in Community-Building and Professionalization (deadline 15 February):
The MAA/GSC Grant(s) will be awarded to an individual or graduate student group from one or more universities. The purpose of this grant is to stimulate new and innovative efforts that support pre-professionalization, encourage communication and collaboration across diverse groups of graduate students, and build communities amongst graduate student medievalists. Click here for more information.

Applicants for these and other MAA programs must be members in good standing of the Medieval Academy. Please contact the Executive Director for more information about these and other MAA programs.

The Medieval Academy Book Subvention Program provides grants of up to $2,500 to university or other non-profit scholarly presses to support the publication of first books by Medieval Academy members. The deadline for proposals is 1 May 2019.

Click here for more information.