Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association

As of July 2009, PAMLA exceeded its previous all-time membership high, with over 500 paid members (an increase of approximately 25% from the previous year). PAMLA membership remains one of the great scholarly deals available, with dues being truly reasonable: $35 for regular members; $25 for lecturers; $20 for students, emeriti, and the un(der)employed; and $50 for joint memberships. We also have a three-year membership option for $90 and a lifetime membership option for $380. Benefits of membership include a subscription to Pacific Coast Philology, access to our annual conference, a subscription to our newsletter, and access to the PAMLA e-mail discussion list. Membership is required to present a paper at the annual conference or to publish an essay in Pacific Coast Philology (PCP). By reciprocal agreement, regular NEMLA and PAMLA members may participate in the meetings of both associations.

The 2008 PAMLA conference was held at Pomona College in Claremont, California, from Friday, 7 November, through Saturday, 8 November, and was cohosted by Pomona College, Scripps College, and Bryn Mawr College. With over seventy sessions, including a forum and a number of sessions on the topic Violence and Representation, a fascinating Presidential Address by Imke Meyer (Bryn Mawr Coll.), and a memorable Plenary Address by Sabine Wilke (Univ. of Washington), the conference was quite successful indeed, largely due to the terrific work of the site committee chaired by Hans Rindisbacher. This year, there will be a special issue of PCP also devoted to the topic Violence and Representation, in addition to the regular annual issue.

This year's 107th annual PAMLA conference is being held 6-7 November 2009 at San Francisco State University. It is a significantly larger conference than any we have had in the recent past, with 114 sessions and almost five hundred participants scheduled to attend. Some of the conference highlights will undoubtedly include the Presidential Address by Beverly Voloshin (San Francisco State Univ.); the Plenary Address by Catherine Gallagher (Univ. of California, Berkeley); a special presentation on the state of the academic workforce by David Laurence, Director, Office of Research and ADE, Modern Language Association; and for the first time two creative writing sessions: a fiction reading and a poetry reading. Those interested in finding out more about the conference should visit our conference Web site (http://pamla.org/2009/).

PCP policy allows members to submit articles all year for consideration. Articles should be 15-25 pages in length, follow MLA style, and be submitted in triplicate to the General Editors (Pauline Beard and Lorely French, PCP Editors, Humanities Division, Pacific Univ., 2043 College Way, Forest Grove, OR 97116). For publication in the fall annual issue, at-large articles should be submitted by 15 January of the year of publication. Articles should be in English. The author's name should appear only on the cover sheet. Sixty institutions subscribe to PCP, which is also available on the JSTOR database.

At the 2008 Executive Committee meeting in Claremont, California, the audit committee approved the 2007-08 financial report. The closing balance remained relatively stable at $18,750.00. In 2008 members donated $905 to the Graduate Student Scholarship. Eleven students received from $75 to $175 to help defray 2008 conference expenses. The deadline for applications for the scholarship is 1 August 2009.

PAMLA officers for 2009 are: President, Beverly Voloshin (San Francisco State Univ.); First Vice President, Thierry Boucquey (Scripps Coll.); Second Vice President, Sabine Wilke (Univ. of Washington); Pacific Coast Philology Editors, Pauline Beard and Lorely French (Pacific Univ.); and Executive Director, Craig Svonkin (Metropolitan State Coll. of Denver). Members of the Executive Committee are Heidi Schlipphacke (Old Dominion Univ.), Andrew Fleck (San José State Univ.), Stanley Orr (Univ. of Hawai'i, West Oahu), Catherine Montfort (Santa Clara Univ.), Sophie Delahaye (Washburn Univ.), and Jeremiah Axelrod (Occidental Coll.). The Graduate Student Representative is Lorenzo Giachetti (Stanford Univ.). The Nominating Committee for 2008 includes Imke Meyer, Chair (Bryn Mawr), Kathleen Lundeen (Western Washington Univ.), and Steven Axelrod (Univ. of California, Riverside).

The Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association is truly in great health for an organization that is one hundred and ten years old! That the association continues to prosper and grow is entirely due to the hard work and dedication of so many of its members and long-time leaders. I am truly honored to serve as PAMLA's new Executive Director, and I hope that you will consider joining PAMLA, an academic association of incredible warmth, support, and intellectual vigor.

CRAIG SVONKIN
Executive Director