The MLA congratulates Stephen Greenblatt, past president of the association and John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, on being awarded the 2016 Holberg Prize—the largest international prize awarded annually to an outstanding researcher in the arts and humanities, social science, law, and theology. In awarding the prize to Greenblatt, Pratap Bhanu… Read more »
Posts Categorized: MLA in the News
MLA Projects Cited in Article about New NEH Initiative
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has just launched Next Generation Humanities PhD Grants, a project that will support institutions in preparing students for careers outside the academy. Planning grants and implementation grants will enable institutions “to transform doctoral-level humanities preparation,” according to an article in Inside Higher Ed. MLA Executive Director Rosemary G. Feal… Read more »
MLA Report Spurs Discussion about the Value of Studying a Foreign Language
Since its release in February, the MLA’s report Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2013 has received coverage in the Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, and numerous university and regional outlets. While enrollments in language courses have increased 11.9% since 2002, the 2013 survey showed a decline… Read more »
John H. Fisher, Former President of the MLA, 1919–2015
John Hurt Fisher, who served as president of the MLA in 1974 and as the association’s executive secretary and the editor of PMLA from 1963 to 1971, died on 17 February. An accomplished teacher, scholar, and administrator, he wrote many books and articles on English medieval literature and cofounded the New Chaucer Society. His teaching… Read more »
Precariat Panel Features MLA Executive Director
Rosemary G. Feal, the executive director of the MLA, joined Barbara Ehrenreich, Andrew Ross, and Jennie Shanker in Washington, DC, on 14 January on the panel The Emergence of the “Precariat”: What Does the Loss of Stable, Well-Compensated Employment Mean for Education? Sponsored by the Albert Shanker Institute and the American Federation of Teachers, the… Read more »
Tips for Interviewees from MLA President Margaret Ferguson
In an interview with HigherEdJobs, Margaret Ferguson, the president of the MLA, discusses what new attendees of the MLA convention can expect, offers guidance on preparing for interviews, and highlights resources available on the MLA Web site. Read the full interview for more of Ferguson’s strategies for interviewing success and to get a preview of… Read more »
MLA Doctoral Study Report Featured in Article on Time to Degree
According to a study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, much of the discrepancy between time to degree in the humanities and time to degree in other fields can be attributed to course work: PhD candidates in the humanities spend nearly twice as long on predissertation course work than do graduate students in… Read more »
Discussion of Doctoral Study Report Continues
In an article in Inside Higher Ed, Russell Berman, former MLA president and lead author of the report of the Task Force on Doctoral Study in Modern Language and Literature, weighs in on the continuing discussion about the report’s recommendations. Berman writes, “Doctoral study in the humanities fields contributes to the quality of society, it… Read more »
MLA Cited in Post on the Changing Shape of the Humanities Postdoc
While some postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities emphasize research and provide benefits, writes Sydni Dunn of Vitae, others require high teaching loads and leave little time for scholarship. “I’ve seen a lot of postdocs that are sometimes no different than the kind of work an adjunct is asked to do off the tenure track,” commented… Read more »
MLA Cited in Atlantic Article about Adjunct Faculty Members
Quoted in a recent article in The Atlantic, the MLA’s executive director, Rosemary G. Feal, contends that it is critical for middle administrators and accreditors to play a role in addressing deteriorating faculty working conditions and the exploitation of adjunct faculty members. Despite the high quality of instruction often provided by non-tenure-track faculty members, the… Read more »