The MLA’s recent advocacy in support of language and other humanities programs at West Virginia University has received coverage from Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Yahoo News, among numerous other outlets. In a letter to West Virginia University president Gordon Gee featured in the Washington Post, the MLA’s executive director Paula… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Feature
MLA Executive Director Speaks Out against Dramatic Cuts to Humanities Programs at West Virginia University
In a letter sent to Gordon Gee, the president of West Virginia University, on 11 August, the MLA’s executive director, Paula M. Krebs, responded to the recently proposed cuts at West Virginia University, including the elimination of the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. Krebs noted that the kinds of cuts to the humanities… Read more »
New Report on the MLA Job List
A report on the jobs advertised in the MLA Job List for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 academic years is now available on the MLA website. The decline in the number of jobs advertised in 2020–21 was pronounced, while 2021–22 showed a welcome rebound to prepandemic levels. Together the significant decline and robust recovery shed light on hiring… Read more »
Results of the 2023 Ratification Vote
Voting on the 2023 ratification ballot concluded at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on 5 May. Members ratified the election of Ōe Kenzaburō, Oh Jung-hee, and Xiao Kaiyu to honorary fellowship in the association. Support for the candidates ranged from 96% to 98% of the members who voted in that section of the ballot. Oh Jung-hee and… Read more »
MLA Members Receive 2023 Guggenheim Fellowships
Congratulations to the eight MLA members among the winners of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships announced in April 2023. Many fellows’ projects directly respond to issues like the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, democracy and policing, scientific innovation, climate change, and identity. Noting the impact of these annual grants, Edward Hirsch, president of the… Read more »
Contribute to an MLA Volume
The volume Approaches to Teaching the Works of William Carlos Williams, edited by Daniel Burke, Elin Käck, and Mark C. Long, is now in development in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Instructors who have taught William Carlos Williams’s works are encouraged to contribute to the volume by completing a survey about their… Read more »
Contribute to an MLA Volume on Teaching Cervantes’s Theater and Novelas ejemplares
The volume Approaches to Teaching Cervantes’s Theater and Novelas ejemplares, edited by Carmen Hsu and Carmela Mattza, is now in development in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Instructors who have taught Miguel Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares, plays, and entremeses are encouraged to contribute to the volume by completing a survey about their experiences…. Read more »
MLA Awarded $1.5 Million Mellon Grant
“Humanities programs and departments frequently lack the money and the time to gather resources and initiate large-scale changes. We’re excited to offer departments the support they need to create more equitable language and literature programs.” —MLA Executive Director Paula M. Krebs The MLA is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant of… Read more »
MLA Members Receive 2023 NEH Grants
Congratulations to the thirty-one MLA members who are among the winners of the National Endowment for the Humanities grants announced in January 2023. Their projects include a digital recovery hub focused on surfacing the work of American women writers; the creation of a humanities and health justice pathways program; a book examining American high school… Read more »
Response to Florida Violations of Shared Governance and Academic Freedom
The MLA’s professional standards on academic freedom and shared governance, including the MLA Statement on Academic Freedom (2014), Tool Kit on Academic Freedom, and Tool Kit on Shared Governance, are clear. The political machinations in Florida that have resulted in what dismissed New College of Florida president Patricia Okker referred to as a “hostile takeover” are in violation of every standard of shared governance, including those… Read more »