The Medieval Academy Blog

Rare Book School Summer Applications are Now Open

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Chris

Rare Book School offers five-day, intensive courses in several locations focused on the history of manuscript, print, and digital materials. Our courses this spring and summer will be held at the University of Virginia, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Indiana University, Bloomington.

Among our more than thirty courses on the history of books and printing, we are pleased to offer courses of interest to book historians. The following is a sample of the breadth of classes offered:

– H-85 “The History of the Book in China,” taught by Soren Edgren (Princeton University, emeritus)

– I-10 “The History of Printed Book Illustration in the West,” taught by Erin Blake (Folger Shakespeare Library)

– G-10 “Introduction to the Principles of Bibliographical Description,” taught by David Whitesell (University of Virginia)

– H-50 “The American Book in the Industrial Era, 1820-1940,” taught by Michael Winship (University of Texas at Austin)

To be considered in the first round of admissions decisions, course applications should be received no later than 20 February. Applications received after that date will be released for review on a rolling basis. Visit our website at rarebookschool.org for course details. A 2016 RBS student remarked, “I will never look at a book—any book—the same way again,” and so we hope you will join us at an RBS course this year and learn to see books in a new way as well!

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MAA News – CARA Prize Announcements

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Chris

The 2017 Robert L. Kindrick-CARA Award for Outstanding Service to Medieval Studies is being awarded to John Van Engen, Andrew V. Tackes Professor of Medieval History at the University of Notre Dame. This award recognizes John’s multifaceted contributions to the field of Medieval Studies through his service in transforming and expanding The Medieval Institute at Notre Dame and the ripple effect his work has had throughout our profession. Through his many initiatives he has truly demonstrated the vibrancy of our field; a vibrancy, that John Van Engen has directed with intellectual generosity, vision, and unwavering commitment.

The 2017 CARA Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies is being awarded to two outstanding educators, Professor Roberta Frank and Professor Amy Livingstone. These teaching awards recognize excellence in the wide variety of teaching that medieval scholars practice, from formal classroom teaching in a college or university setting, to in-depth seminars and graduate mentoring, to online teaching, summer institutes, and academic publications devoted to the pedagogy of medieval studies.

Roberta Frank is the Marie Borroff Professor of English at Yale University. In her fifty years of teaching she has “advised or co-advised over thirty dissertations, sagely mentored students in her field and beyond, modeled generous academic citizenship, and inspired countless undergraduates with her keen critical mind, poetic sensibility, and sly wit.” “Humor and Wisdom” “accessible and generous” “authentic and encouraging” and at the center of “a community of scholars”; such phrases resound throughout Roberta’s letter of nomination. Roberta’s reach as a teacher, a mentor, an exemplar, and a colleague extends far outside and beyond her classroom. Her “dedication to being inclusive, warm, and welcoming” has fostered an academic community of medievalists who strive to keep her wisdom, wit and teaching legacy alive in their own craft.

Amy Livingstone is the H.O. Hirt Professor of History at Wittenberg University, Amy is a dedicated and efflorescent teacher, scholar, mentor and colleague. She endeavors to share her love of the middle ages and the exploration of the past, its places, people, texts and ways of knowing, with all who interact with her, inside and outside the classroom. She has transformed the curriculum, innovated new programs and institutions, fellowships and methods, and made her approach to pedagogy accessible and admirable. For her students, “medieval history became something almost tangible which [they] could apply to the society around [them].”