In her welcome message, the incoming 2013–14 MLA president, Marianne Hirsch, lays out the association’s goals and activities for the coming year, highlighting resources on the MLA Web site, the new MLA Commons platform, the MLA Task Force on Graduate Education, a working group on divisions and discussion groups, and the association’s ongoing efforts to expand the MLA’s international reach.
Invitation for 2014 Presidential Theme: Vulnerable Times
Marianne Hirsch, MLA president in 2013, has now issued an invitation for session proposals on the presidential theme of the 2014 convention: Vulnerable Times. Vulnerable Times addresses the vulnerability of life, the planet, and our disciplines, as well as the acts of imagination and forms of resistance that promote social change—in our time and throughout history. Please consider this theme an invitation to think about how the arts and the humanities (and the textual, historical, theoretical, and activist work that we do in the framework of the MLA) can contribute to social, political, and scientific analyses of the vulnerabilities we share collectively and those that are socially imposed on particular individuals and groups. Members are encouraged to submit forum proposals, roundtables, division and discussion group programs, and special sessions that engage with this theme. Session proposal forms for the 2014 convention will be available online by early March.
Convention Guide and Convention Daily
The Convention Guide and the first issue of the Convention Daily for the 2013 convention in Boston are now online and will be available on-site at MLA information centers. The Guide provides general information about convention services, a map of the locations of the convention hotels, and floor plans for meeting venues. The three issues of the Daily, which will be distributed on-site and online during the convention, list updates to sessions, exhibit hall events, and other timely information; attendees may also view updates to sessions at www.mla.org/program or mla13.org (for mobile devices).
MLA Election Results
Balloting in the 2012 elections for second vice president, the Executive Council, the Delegate Assembly, and the division and discussion group executive committees closed on 10 December. Roland Greene was elected second vice president, and Alicia M. de la Torre Falzon, Donald E. Hall, and Paula M. Krebs were elected to the Executive Council for four-year terms. Full election results are available on the MLA Web site.
Mobile Convention Program
The Program for the 2013 MLA Annual Convention is now available in a version optimized for mobile devices. Users can search the mobile Program by keyword or subject as well as browse sessions by day, participant, location, and event type; view a map of the convention area; and find general convention information. The mobile Program can be browsed off-line and is updated automatically whenever you have a connection. To use it, visit mla13.org on your mobile device. To see comments and annotations by session organizers, go towww.mla.org/program.
MLA President on Reforming Graduate Studies
In a speech to the Council of Graduate Schools, MLA President Michael Bérubé articulated the importance of reforming graduate programs in the humanities and acknowledged the hurdles that must be overcome. Despite the challenges, reports Inside Higher Ed, Bérubé affirmed the value of graduate education in the humanities and its continuing vitality.
2012 Prizewinners Announced
Congratulations to the winners of the 2012 MLA publication prize competitions. The publication prizes will be awarded in a ceremony on 5 January at the 2013 MLA Annual Convention in Boston. The ceremony is open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
Convention Registration Deadline
Registration rates for the 2013 MLA Annual Convention in Boston will increase by $30 after 7 December. Register now to avoid paying the higher fee for late registration. After you have registered, you can book your hotel reservation, sign up for MLA cultural excursions, and make travel arrangements at discounted prices.
Winner of Digital Challenge Announced
Earlier this year the MLA Committee on the New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare sponsored a digital challenge seeking the most innovative and compelling uses of the data contained in its recently published volume, The Comedy of Errors. The committee is pleased to announce that the winner of its digital challenge is Patrick Murray-John’s Bill-Crit-O-Matic. The award will be presented at the 2013 MLA convention session “Answering the Challenge: The New Variorum Shakespeare in the Digital Age” (488) on 5 January. The runner-up was Doug Reside and Gregory Lord’s Comedy of Errors.
Survey of Faculty Members Who Teach Online
The Coalition on Contingent Academic Labor and the United Association for Labor Education request your help in gathering information on the wages and working conditions of faculty members who teach online. If you teach online, we encourage you to complete their survey and to share the link with others. Although no names will appear in the resulting report, those who wish to remain anonymous can type random letters in the name field. The name of your institution, however, is required. For more information, please contact Helena Worthen.