New on the Web Site

February Job Information List PDFs Now Available

PDFs of the print version of the MLA Job Information List are available to all free of charge on the MLA Web site. The February 2012 lists—both the English and foreign language editions—have now been posted. The February lists contain all new ads that departments submitted by the 13 January deadline. PDFs of the October and December 2011 lists are also available.

Executive Council Opposes Research Works Act

Citing its commitment to broad access to the latest research and scholarly findings, the MLA Executive Council has sent a letter to members expressing its opposition to the Research Works Act, Congressional H.R. 3699. In reviewing the language of the act and considering the implications of its provisions, the council concluded that this legislation has significant negative ramifications for the future of public access to scholarly material and research. The council urges members to contact their elected representatives in Congress to make their views known on this issue. You can find contact information on the Web site of the National Humanities Alliance.

Convention

Calls for Papers for 2013 Sessions

Do you want to participate in a session at the 2013 MLA Annual Convention in Boston? You may search existing calls for papers or browse a list of calls for each session type. Most calls for papers list a submission deadline of 15 March or earlier. Submissions should be sent to the person whose e-mail appears in the listing. All participants in convention sessions must be MLA members by 7 April 2012, and members should review other guidelines for the MLA convention before responding to calls for papers. Please note: a call for papers is not a session proposal but a way to solicit paper submissions for creating a session proposal. Proposal forms for the 2013 convention will be available in early March. Completed proposal forms must be submitted by 1 April 2012.

Presidential Theme for 2013 Convention

2012–13 MLA President Michael Bérubé has announced that the presidential theme for the 2013 MLA Annual Convention in Boston will be Avenues of Access. In a letter now available on the MLA Web site, Bérubé invites members to propose sessions that address student access to higher education, tenure-track jobs for PhDs, the implications of disability studies for the humanities, or open access and the future of scholarly communication. Those interested in organizing sessions as part of the presidential theme may submit calls for papers through 21 February. Session proposal forms will be available on the site in early March.

Member Resources and Links

CSE Seal Awarded to Charles Brockden Brown Edition

On 15 February 2012, the Committee on Scholarly Editions (CSE) awarded the CSE seal to volume 1 of Collected Writings of Charles Brockden Brown, Letters and Early Epistolary Writings. Philip Barnard, Elizabeth Hewitt, and Mark L. Kamrath edited the volume, and John R. Holmes and Fritz Fleischmann acted as consulting editors. The volume will be published by Bucknell University Press (www.bucknell.edu/universitypress.xml).

The CSE serves as a clearinghouse for information about scholarly editing and editorial projects, offers advice and consultation to editors on request, honors excellence in editing by awarding emblems to qualified volumes, and promotes dissemination of reliable texts for classroom use and among general readers. Editors or publishers who wish to submit their editions (preferably before or at the copyediting stage) for consideration for the CSE seal should contact the committee at cse@mla.org.

Just Published

Spring Newsletter Highlights

A PDF of the Spring 2012 Newsletter is now available online. The issue includes a call for innovative convention proposals from the MLA Program Committee and Executive Director Rosemary G. Feal, Michael Bérubé’s president’s column on the association’s advocacy on behalf of non-tenure-track faculty members, and 2011 election results.

The Comedy of Errors

The MLA is pleased to announce publication of The Comedy of Errors, in the New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare series. Edited by Standish Henning, the volume is available for $120 (MLA members $96.00).

MLA in the News

Bérubé on Washington Summit

Writing for Inside Higher Ed, MLA President Michael Bérubé takes readers inside the New Faculty Majority’s national summit on contingent employment in higher education and outlines the challenges of making the case for improved working conditions for adjunct faculty members. An extended version of the piece appears on the MLA Web site, where members are encouraged to comment.