The Medieval Academy Blog

The 92nd Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America will take place on 6-8 April 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The MAA has met at the University of Toronto every decade (on the ‘7’ year) since 1967, and was first hosted at Toronto by the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in 1949.

The 2017 program will feature three plenary speakers: Marina Rustow (Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East, Princeton University); Monica Green (Professor of History, Arizona State University); and Carmela Vircillo Franklin (President of the Medieval Academy of America; Professor of Classics, Columbia University). In addition, the program will include fifty concurrent sessions in a wide variety of formats and covering a broad array of disciplines. Threads include Manuscript Studies (digital and otherwise), Old English, Monasticism, The North, Soundscapes, Glossing and Commentary, and the Medieval Mediterranean.

The Annual Meeting will take place on the downtown (St. George) campus of the University of Toronto. Reception venues will include the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Aga Khan Museum. The conference website and program will become available in early January, with registration and discounted hotel reservations available. Please make sure that your passport is up to date, and join us in Toronto for what is sure to be an excellent Annual Meeting.

To the Members of the Medieval Academy,

The end of the year is now quickly approaching, and we encourage you to renew your membership in the Medieval Academy for 2017 as soon as possible. If you have not already paid your 2017 membership dues, please do so by 31 December 2016.

We hope you will renew your membership and support our worldwide community of more than 3,400 medievalists. The Academy’s mission is to foster the study of the Middle Ages at all levels throughout North America, a mandate reflected in our newly-codified Values Statement:

Membership in the Medieval Academy is open to all persons concerned with the study and teaching of the Middle Ages, including, but not limited to, independent scholars, secondary teachers, graduate students, curators, librarians, and college and university professors of all ranks and at all types of institutions. We aim to foster an environment of diversity, inclusion, and academic freedom for all medievalists. Further, we affirm the right of students and junior faculty to receive supportive, professional mentoring that respects their intellectual freedom and personal integrity.

Click here to renew online for 2017. You will need to sign in with your username and password; if you have forgotten either, please contact us at info@themedievalacademy.org. While you’re online, don’t forget to take advantage of the reduced subscriptions to several online bibliographies and the ACLS Humanities E-Book Library that are available to Medieval Academy members. We invite you to take this opportunity to explore our website and, after signing in with your username and password, update your personal homepage so that you can connect with other members with similar interests. Members can now use their personal MAA homepage to indicate an interest in being considered to serve on one of our committees or to review books for Speculum. In this way we hope to engage more members in our work.

Since the Medieval Academy is a membership organization not affiliated with any other institution, we rely on the income received annually from member dues to maintain our program of publications, awards, grants, and conferences.

We are pleased to report that in 2016, with your contribution, the Academy increased its support of members, especially graduate students, through the numerous awards and fellowships offered annually. Funds awarded to graduate students topped $100,000 this year, including the Olivia Remie Constable Awards, GSC/MAA Grant for Innovation, and the broadened MAA/CARA Summer Language Stipends program. In 2017, the Academy will also be able to offer increased support to the efforts of its numerous volunteer committees that are responsible for so much of the work of the Academy, from the Speculum boards to the many awards committees, from the Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) to the Graduate Student Committee. We are doing all this while continuing to streamline administrative functions and expand digital offerings. As always, online access to the entire Speculum archive remains a perquisite of membership. In addition, members receive a 30% discount on all University of Chicago Press publications.

You can easily pay your dues through the MAA website. The dues and donations categories are outlined on the website with links you can follow for further explanation. If you have already renewed, thank you. If you are a Corresponding Fellow, an Honorary Life Member, or a Life Member, no dues are payable, but we hope that you will consider making a gift to the Academy here. We encourage all members to consider supplementing their membership by becoming a Sustaining or Contributing member or by remembering the Academy with a bequest as part of our Legacy Society. In addition, you may want to give a gift membership to a colleague or student; please contact us at info@themedievalacademy.org for more information.

If you prefer to renew by mail, our traditional paper membership form can be printed here.

As we begin preparing for our 2025 centennial, the Academy welcomes the opportunity to think about our mission for the future and how we can best serve our members and the greater community of medievalists. We look forward to your participation in this important process as a member of the MAA. We sincerely hope that you will renew soon and continue your valued membership in the Academy. Click here to renew.

Carmela Vircillo Franklin, President
Lisa Fagin Davis, Executive Director

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 2017:

President: Margot E. Fassler (Music History and Liturgy, Univ. of Notre Dame)
1st Vice-President: David Wallace (English and Comparative Literature, Univ. of Pennsylvania)
2nd Vice-President: Ruth Mazo Karras (History, Univ. of Minnesota)

Council (four seats available):
Suzanne Akbari (English, Univ. of Toronto)
Michael D. Bailey (History, Iowa State Univ.)
Elina Gertsman (Art History, CWRU)
Stacy S. Klein (English, Rutgers Univ.)
Sara Lipton (History/Judaic Studies, SUNY Stony Brook)
Therese Martin (Art History, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Spanish   National Research Council)
Stephen J. Shoemaker (Religious Studies, University of Oregon)
Andrea Tarnowski (French, Dartmouth College)

Nominating Committee (two seats available):
Eric Goldberg (History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Bernice M. Kaczynski (Religion, McMaster University)
Susan R. Kramer (History, Independent Scholar)
Eric Ramirez-Weaver (Art History, University of Virginia)

The list of candidates with their photos and brief biographies appears online here:

http://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/default.asp?page=2017Ballot

This year, for the first time, we have asked all of the candidates to submit 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.

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 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 is being announced on 6 October, the closing date for nomination by petition has been set at 11:59 PM, 26 October 2016. Additional information about the governance of the Academy can be found here . My thanks to the 2016 Nominating Committee for their work in establishing this slate of candidates: Adam Cohen (Univ. of Toronto, Chair), Adam Kosto (Columbia Univ.), Brett Edward Whalen (UNC-Chapen Hill), Sean Fields (Univ. of Vermont), and Fiona Griffiths (Stanford Univ.).

Electronic balloting will open on 1 November. 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

Deadline: 15 December 2016

The Medieval Academy of America is currently accepting self-nominations for vacancies opening up on the Graduate Student Committee (GSC) for the 2017-2019 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 December 15, 2016:

– 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 and confirmed by the Council of the Medieval Academy at the 2017 Annual Meeting in Toronto, 6-8 April 2017. If you have any questions, please contact us at gsc@themedievalacademy.org.

To the Members of the Medieval Academy:

Members are hereby invited to submit nominations for Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America. Fellows and Corresponding Fellows are senior scholars who have made notable contributions to the field of Medieval Studies.

Fellows will cast ballots in December and January for the 2017 election, which will operate under by-laws and procedures adopted in 2013 and revised in 2015. Under the established rules, four slots are currently available, for which there must be at least eight nominations. There is no established minimum number of nominations for Corresponding Fellows.

Nominations for the 2017 elections must be received by 5 December 2016.

Instructions for nominations are available here:

http://www.medievalacademy.org/?page=Election_Procedure

Lists of Fellows, Corresponding Fellows and Emeriti/ae Fellows are available here:

http://www.medievalacademy.org/?page=Fellows

Nominations should be submitted to the Executive Director at LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org or mailed to:

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

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

– Mary Carruthers, President of the Fellows

Piero Boitani, corresponding fellow of the MAA, has been awarded the 2016 Balzan Prize for Comparative Literature:
http://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/piero-boitani

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 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.