COVID-19 Updates

Posted by Anna Chang

MLA staff members are working remotely to make sure MLA resources are available to you, and we’ve created a new site that has information to help you move your course online. Please check this page regularly for the latest updates related to COVID-19 and the MLA.

Resources

  • The MLA has launched an emergency grant program to help part-time faculty members who’ve been hard hit by the outbreak. The $500 grants will be awarded by lottery. The application deadline is 1 May.
  • We’ve developed a new tool for teachers who want to set up a course site quickly. Log in to your Humanities Commons account or set up a free one. Choose Create a site, and then select Is this a course site? The Web site theme comes with sections for syllabi, lesson plans, a calendar, and more. Need help? Check out the demo and instructions.
  • To provide additional resources to those teaching remotely, we’ve released an early preview of Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities, a curated collection of syllabi, lesson plans, videos, and other resources for teaching and research. Check out the keywords and build your own collections of artifacts.
  • To help teachers find and evaluate resources for teaching, including remote instruction, the MLA has made relevant sections from recent MLA books available for free on the Scholarly Communication Web site.
  • Teaching MLA style remotely? A recording of our webinar MLA Style 101: A Hands-On Workshop is available for free.

Deadline Changes

  • The deadline for submitting proposals for the 2021 convention has been extended to 6 April. The Program Committee realizes that the COVID-19 situation, school closings, and shifts in teaching expectations will affect your ability to put together a convention proposal and will take all these factors into consideration when evaluating proposals.
  • All 1 April 2020 deadlines for MLA publication prizes have been changed to 1 May. If you or your publisher has submitted or is planning to submit a work for a 2020 publication prize, we ask that you send electronic copies to awards@mla.org.
  • The deadline to apply for an MLA Bibliography fellowship has been changed to 14 April.
  • The deadline to nominate yourself for a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship or Seed Grant has been changed to 1 May. Find out more about the nomination process.

Statements

  • The Executive Council has issued a statement on COVID-19 and academic labor and signed on to a joint statement on faculty review and reappointment processes during the crisis.
  • Paula Krebs, the executive director of the MLA, has written an op-ed on how the COVID-19 outbreak and the move to online teaching is bringing to light the problems of higher education’s reliance on contingent labor.

1 April Deadline for MLA Bibliography Fellowship Applications

Posted by Emily Tobey

The deadline to apply for a three-year field bibliography fellowship from the MLA International Bibliography is approaching! MLA field bibliographers examine scholarly materials and submit bibliographic and indexing information for citations in the bibliography. Open to all MLA members, including graduate students, the 2020 fellowships will run from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023.

Field bibliographers perform a valuable service for the profession and receive institutional recognition while deepening their knowledge of the field as well as their research skills. The MLA provides materials and training and waives registration fees for fellows attending training sessions at the MLA convention. On completion of the fellowship, fellows receive a $500 stipend and a certificate at the convention awards ceremony.

For more information and to submit an application, visit the MLA Bibliography Fellowships page.

Contribute to an MLA Approaches Volume on the Works of Margaret Atwood

Posted by Emily Tobey

The volume Approaches to Teaching the Works of Margaret Atwood, edited by Lauren Rule Maxwell, is now in development in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Instructors who have taught Atwood’s works are encouraged to contribute to the volume by completing a survey about their experiences. Information about proposing an essay is available at the end of the survey.

Contribute to an MLA Approaches Volume on the Works of Ralph Ellison

Posted by Emily Tobey

The volume Approaches to Teaching the Works of Ralph Ellison, edited by Tracy Floreani, is now in development in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Instructors who have taught Ellison’s works are encouraged to contribute to the volume by completing a survey about their experiences. Information about proposing an essay is available at the end of the survey.

MLA Executive Director Advocates for Fair and Equitable Treatment of Contingent Faculty Members

Posted by Emily Tobey

On 30 January, Paula Krebs, the executive director of the MLA, testified at a Committee on Higher Education and Committee on Civil Service and Labor hearing on contingent labor issues at the City University of New York (CUNY).

Krebs recognized the efforts of the City University of New York to address inequities in working conditions for part-time faculty members through its pilot program for multiyear appointments for adjuncts as well as new CUNY contracts, which recognize the office hours and professional development hours of part-time faculty members. These are an important step in the right direction, but she emphasized that much more needs to be done. 

Krebs spoke to the specific issues faced by faculty members in language and literature departments, which rely heavily on non-tenure-track faculty members. She noted that, as of fall 2017, just 43 percent of college and university courses offered in language and literature were taught by tenure-track faculty members. The rest of the courses are taught by teachers who do not have the job security or protections that come with tenure and who often face last-minute cancellations of their classes. This creates income insecurity, forcing instructors to juggle jobs to make ends meet. Moreover, when these faculty members are denied a long-term commitment from the university, they cannot make a long-term investment in their students, as mentors and advisers, compromising students’ experience as well as retention rates.

The MLA, Krebs noted, strongly advocates for more equitable hiring practices, contracts, and compensation of part-time faculty members and for making every effort to convert an optimal number of part-time positions to full-time—preferably tenure-track—positions. Read Krebs’s full testimony and the MLA recommendations she discussed, including the MLA’s “Statement on Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members,” “Final Report of the MLA Committee on Professional Employment,” and recommendations on per-course compensation.

 

 

Contribute to an MLA Volume on Teaching Emotions in World Literature

Posted by Emily Tobey

The volume Teaching Emotions in World Literature, edited by Andreea Marculescu and Charles-Louis Morand-Métivier, is now in development in the MLA Options for Teaching series. To learn more about the volume and how to propose an essay, please visit the MLA Web site. Abstracts and CVs are due to the editors by 15 August 2020.

 

Apply for an MLA Bibliography Fellowship by 1 April

Posted by Emily Tobey

The MLA International Bibliography is accepting applications for three-year field bibliography fellowships. MLA field bibliographers examine scholarly materials and submit bibliographic and indexing information for citations in the bibliography. Open to all MLA members, including graduate students, the 2020 fellowships will run from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023.

Field bibliographers perform a valuable service for the profession and receive institutional recognition while deepening their knowledge of the field as well as their research skills. The MLA provides materials and training and waives registration fees for fellows attending training sessions at the MLA convention.  On completion of the fellowship, fellows receive a $500 stipend and a certificate at the convention awards ceremony.

For more information and to submit an application, visit the MLA Bibliography Fellowships page.  Applications are due 1 April 2020.