The Medieval Academy Blog

To the Members of the Medieval Academy,

I am pleased to announce the names of the Medieval Academy members who have generously agreed to stand for election to office in 2018:

President: David J. Wallace (English and Comparative Literature, Univ. of Pennsylvania)
1st-VP: Ruth Mazo Karras (History, Univ. of Minnesota)
2nd-VP:  Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (French, Univ. of Pittsburgh)

Council (four seats available):

Kathryne Beebe (History, Univ. of Texas-Arlington)
Jochen Burgtorf (History, California State Univ., Fullerton)
Raymond Clemens (Manuscript Studies, Beinecke Library, Yale Univ.)
Valerie L. Garver (History, Northern Illinois Univ.)
Stephen Jaeger (German Lit., Emeritus, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign)
Cynthia J. Neville (History, Dalhousie Univ.)
Lucy K. Pick (Religion, Univ. of Chicago)
Kathryn A. Smith (Art History, New York Univ.)

Nominating Committee (two seats available):

Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis (Religious Studies, Saint Martin’s Univ.)
Robin Fleming (History, Boston College)
Gabriel Radle (Liturgical Studies, Univ. of Notre Dame)
Catherine Saucier (Musicology, Arizona State Univ.)

In addition to biographical information, each candidate has submitted a statement detailing their vision for the Academy and their reasons for wanting to participate in its governance. It is our hope that these statements will assist members in making informed choices about the governance of the Medieval Academy. These statements are online here:http://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/default.asp?page=2018Ballot

There are eight candidates for four openings on the Council, the governing body of the Academy. There are four candidates for two openings on the Nominating Committee, tasked with proposing candidates for the annual Council and Officers’ election. As is our practice, the slate of presidential officers is presented unopposed, although nominations by petition may be made as follows, in accordance with article 26 of the By-Laws:

Nominations of other members of the Academy for elected officers, Councillors, or members of the Nominating Committee may be made by written petition signed by at least seven members of the Academy. A nomination by petition may be for a single office, several offices, or an entire slate. Such petitions must be received by the Executive Director within twenty days of the circulation of the report of the Nominating Committee (article 25), unless the Council extends the period for making nominations by petition.

As the slate of candidates was announced on 26 September, the closing date for nomination by petition has been set at 11:59 PM, 16 October 2017. Additional information about the governance of the Academy can be found on our FAQ page: http://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/page/FAQ

My thanks to the 2018 Nominating Committee for their work in establishing the slate of Council candidates: Thomas Dale (Chair), Sean Field, Fiona Griffiths, Bernice Kaczynski, and Susan Kramer. My thanks as well to President Margot Fassler for proposing the slate of Nominating Committee candidates.

Electronic balloting will open on 23 October. If you would like to receive a paper ballot and have not received one in the past, please contact me at LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org.

Voting in the Medieval Academy election is one of the most important means that members have to impact both the Academy and the future of medieval studies in North America. Please vote and let your voice be heard. I look forward to your participation in the election of the leadership of the Medieval Academy of America.

– Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director

The Medieval Academy of America invites applications for the following grants. Please note that applicants must be members in good standing as of September 15 in order to be eligible for Medieval Academy awards.

Birgit Baldwin Fellowship
The Birgit Baldwin Fellowship provides a grant of $20,000 to support a graduate student in a North American university who is researching and writing a dissertation for the Ph.D. on any subject in French medieval history that can be realized only by sustained research in the archives and libraries of France. It may be renewed for a second year upon demonstration of satisfactory progress. (Deadline 15 November 2017)

Schallek Fellowship
The Schallek Fellowship provides a one-year grant of $30,000 to support Ph.D. dissertation research in any relevant discipline dealing with late-medieval Britain (ca. 1350-1500). (Deadline 15 October 2017)

Travel Grants
The Medieval Academy provides a limited number of travel grants to help Academy members who hold doctorates but are not in full-time faculty positions, or are contingent faculty without access to institutional funding, attend conferences to present their work. (Deadline 1 November 2017 for meetings to be held between 16 February and 31 August 2018)

Please feel free to print and post this announcement.

The MAA/CARA Conference Grant for Regional Associations and Programs will be awarded for the first time in 2017. The $1,000 award will help support a regional or consortial conference taking place in 2018.

Applications are due by 15 October 2017. Click here for more information: https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/page/MAA_CARA_Grant

Kindrick-CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies

The Robert L. Kindrick-CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies recognizes Medieval Academy members who have provided leadership in developing, organizing, promoting, and sponsoring medieval studies through the extensive administrative work that is so crucial to the health of medieval studies but that often goes unrecognized by the profession at large. This award of $1000 is presented at the Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy.

CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching

The CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies recognizes Medieval Academy members who are outstanding teachers and who have contributed to the profession by inspiring students at the undergraduate or graduate levels or by creating innovative and influential textbooks or other materials for teaching medieval subjects.

Nominations and supporting materials must be received by Nov. 15. Please see the MAA website for other grants and prizes offered by the Academy.

The Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires dedicated the 2017 Jornadas Internacionales de Literatura Española Medieval to the life and career of Joseph Thomas Snow.

If you have good news to share, please contact Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis.

Medieval Academy memberships run from January – December, and so it is nearly time to renew your membership. Watch your mailbox for a renewal form in the coming weeks. You can also renew online after signing into our website with your username and password (contact us if you’ve lost track of those credentials).

We hope you’ll spend some time exploring our new and improved website. In response to survey responses and pageview analytics, we have redesigned the homepage and restructured the website to make the most-frequently-used features easier to find. In addition to direct links to Speculum and news about the Annual Meeting, the homepage also includes a conference calendar and – via our Twitter feed – other news of interest to medievalists such as job postings, grant opportunities, and Calls for Papers (such announcements continue to be found on our blog as well).

Members-only features of the website remain unchanged. After signing into your personal account, you can renew online or make a donation. Other members-only features include online access to the entire Speculum archive, a searchable Member Directory, and discounted subscriptions to JSTOR, IMB, HEB, and other bibliographical resources.

After you sign in, please take a few minutes to update your profile page so that members with similar interests can find you, and you can find them. Your profile page now includes an option to indicate racial/ethnic identity. This information will not be visible to other members, but it will help the Academy immensely as we strive to increase our understanding of member demographics and work to improve diversity and inclusivity in Medieval Studies. Additional resources will be added to the website in the coming months, so visit often for the latest updates!

Photo: The Haskins Medal. The Medieval Academy of America

The Medieval Academy of America invites submissions for the following prizes, to be awarded at the 2018 MAA Annual Meeting (Emory University, 1-3 March). Submission instructions vary, but all dossiers must complete by 15 October 2017.

Haskins Medal
Awarded to a distinguished monograph in the field of medieval studies.

Digital Humanities Prize
Awarded to an outstanding digital research project or resource in the field of medieval studies.

Karen Gould Prize [NEW]
Awarded to a monograph of outstanding quality in medieval art history.

John Nicholas Brown Prize
Awarded to a first monograph of outstanding quality in the field of medieval studies.

Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize
Awarded to a first article of outstanding quality in the field of medieval studies.

Please feel free to print and post this announcement.

To all Members of the Medieval Academy of America:

Members are hereby invited to submit nominations for the election of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America for 2018.

The title of Fellow was created in 1926 to recognize and honor those scholars among us who over the years have made outstanding contributions to Medieval Studies through their teaching, scholarship, and service. Nominations are encouraged in all the varied fields encompassed by Medieval Studies, and all members of the Medieval Academy are free to submit nominations. Those nominations are overseen by the Fellows Nominating Committee, which is empowered to intervene only if there is some notable inequity in the list of proposed nominees. Existing Fellows will cast their ballots in December and January. The election of 2018 will operate under the by-laws and procedures adopted in 2013 and revised in 2015.

Existing Fellows may also have chosen to become Emeriti or Emeritae Fellows, which has the effect of opening up additional slots the following year for the election of new Fellows. Such Emeriti/Emeritae Fellows retain the position of Fellow in every respect but relinquish their right to vote in the election of new Fellows.

Current bylaws prescribe that there may be a total of up to 125 Fellows who at the time of election are members of the Academy and residents of North America, and in addition up to 75 Corresponding Fellows who at the time of election are residents of countries outside of North America. Following the rules established by the current bylaws, three (3) slots are available for the year 2018, for which there must be at least six (6) nominations. For the nomination of Corresponding Fellows no established minimum number of nominations is required.

Instructions for submitting nominations are available here:https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Election_Procedure

Please refer to the lists of current Fellows before proposing a nomination:

Current Fellows:https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Fellows_List

Current Corresponding Fellows:
https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/page/CorrFellows

Nominations may be submitted by email (as a PDF attachment) to the Executive Director at LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org or by mail to:

Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director
Medieval Academy of America
17 Dunster St., Suite 202
Cambridge, Mass. 02138

Nominations for the 2018 elections must be received by 1 November 2017. Unsuccessful nominations from previous years may be resubmitted. Please contact the Executive Director for further information.

Finally, please note that nominations are to be kept in strictest confidence, from the nominee as well as from others.

– John Van Engen, President of the Fellows