The Medieval Academy Blog

Master and scholars. British Library, MS Royal 19 A IX f. 4

The Medieval Academy of America invites applications to serve as Executive Director of the world’s largest scholarly organization devoted to the study of the Middle Ages. The Executive Director is appointed for a five-year term by the Council; the term is renewable.

The position of Executive Director is of vital importance to the successful fulfillment of the mission of the Medieval Academy of America. As its highest-ranking professional employee, the incumbent is responsible for representing the organization’s members, their elected leadership, and the vibrant programs in Medieval Studies whose role in contemporary society and culture we support. Working from the Academy office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in collaboration with and reporting to the organization’s elected Board (a sixteen-member Council which includes the officers – president, first- and second-vice presidents, and treasurer), the Executive Director proposes, develops and implements policies and programs addressing the present and future needs of a national and international community of medieval scholars.

Responsibilities include advancing the interests of the Academy and implementing policies in conjunction with the elected Officers and Council, overseeing the Academy’s governance and membership services, supervising Academy finances and fundraising efforts, promoting membership growth, facilitating the work of Academy committees, coordinating the Annual Meeting and meetings of the Council and Executive Committee, and managing the Academy office and staff. A fuller description of the position is available on request from the chair of the search committee.

Position qualifications include:
-Proven leadership skills
-Excellent oral and written communication abilities
-Demonstrated ability to direct an office and supervise staff
-Knowledge of financial systems and non-profit accounting
-Ability to engage the Academy’s various constituencies in a positive, tactful manner          -Strategic planning and organizing skills
-Knowledge of and experience in dealing with current challenges confronting higher education and learned societies.

In addition to meeting the above criteria, the ideal candidate will possess a PhD in a recognized sub-discipline of Medieval Studies and have a distinguished record of publications in that field. Compensation will be based on qualifications and comparable to that of administrative leaders in similar institutions.

Nominations, including self-nominations, are welcome. Interested parties should submit applications including a curriculum vitae, a statement outlining plans for the development of the organization, and three names (with contact information) of individuals who can speak to the applicant’s qualifications, to directorsearch@themedievalacademy.org or as hard copy to the Academy office, 17 Dunster St., Suite 202, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA addressed to Director Search. Screening of applications will begin 15 February 2014. EEO/AA

The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California Los Angeles is pleased to host the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, which will be held jointly with the annual meeting of the Medieval Association of the Pacific at UCLA on April 10-12, 2014. The meeting’s theme is “Empires and Encounters.”

The program will include four plenary sessions:

Presidential Address: Richard Unger, University of British Columbia
Opening Plenary Session: Susan Boynton, Columbia University
Fellows Plenary Session: Margaret Mullett, Dumbarton Oaks
CARA Plenary Session

The meeting will conclude with a private reception at the Getty Villa in Malibu on Saturday evening. The annual meeting of CARA delegates will take place on Sunday.

Registration is now open. The Program, registration link and hotel information can be found here:

http://www.cmrs.ucla.edu/medieval_academy/index.html

We hope you will join us for what promises to be a very successful meeting.

On behalf of the staff, members and leadership of the Medieval Academy, I want to offer my thanks to Jacqueline Brown for her thirty-three years of service to Speculum and the Academy. Since 1981, she has edited hundreds of articles and more than 9,000 book reviews, guiding hundreds of authors from submission to publication. With her uncompromising attention to detail and consistency and her commitment to grammatical and rhetorical rigor, Jackie has earned the respect and gratitude of all who have worked with her. We are particularly grateful for her service these last eight months, when she stepped into the role of Acting Editor with little notice and proceeded to return the journal to a regular publication schedule without compromising the high standards for which Speculum is known. All of us in the office will miss her, and we wish her good luck in her retirement.

– Lisa Fagin Davis, Acting Executive Director

To the Members of the Medieval Academy:

The Council, on the recommendation of a search committee chaired by Richard Unger, is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Sarah Spence as the new editor of Speculum.

Sarah Spence has just taken early retirement from her post as Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia, where she was Distinguished Research Professor from 2009 to 2013.  A specialist particularly in troubadour poetry, Spence’s scholarship and professional activities demonstrate a great range, from classical antiquity to the Renaissance and beyond.  Her career has been marked not only by an impressive list of publications but also by skill in working collegially.  She has an extensive history as an editor.  In addition to two co-edited volumes of critical essays, Spence has developed particular expertise as a journal editor.  She was founding editor of Literary Imagination and held that post for eight years.  Before that, she was managing editor of Tenso.  After leaving Literary Imagination, Spence took on Vergilius for three years, raising its quality and readership.  Editing has thus been a major thread in Spence’s career, rivaling her activities as scholar and teacher.  Editing and the study of literature, while they are twin strands in her career, have never been divided.  Her interest in encouraging younger scholars to send their work to Speculum, though they may be daunted by the idea of publishing in the field’s most prestigious journal – famed (as it should be) for its rigorous standards – has the potential to establish new directions.  Her wide experience and genuine pleasure in the nitty-gritty of nurturing and editing articles hold great promise for her term as the editor of Speculum.

The task of the search committee proved a difficult one.  Making a choice among the ten applicants, individuals with varied and distinguished credentials, took longer than anyone had anticipated.  After extensive, careful, and thoughtful deliberation the committee made its recommendation to appoint Sarah Spence. The Academy is grateful to all ten members who applied for their willingness to serve and their interest in the organization. We owe a special debt of gratitude to the members of the search committee – Christopher Baswell, Susan Einbinder, Cynthia Hahn, and Cary Nederman – for their hard work over the last months and their contributions to the difficult decision that has now been made.

Sarah Spence is enthusiastic about this appointment and is very much looking forward to her new role as editor of Speculum. We are sure you will join us in wishing her all the best in her service to the Academy.

Richard Unger, President
William Chester Jordan, First Vice-President
Barbara Newman, Second Vice-President

Sarah Spence: Curriculum Vitae