Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I write to extend you a warm welcome to join us for the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, which our Medieval Institute will host at the University of Notre Dame on March 12-14, 2015. Please mark your calendars, and note the somewhat earlier than usual date. Our plans are taking final shape. Registration should go up on line early in December.
This will be the ninetieth annual meeting of the Medieval Academy–a noteworthy milestone in the rich history of medieval studies in North America. Our Medieval Institute at Notre Dame has been an integral part of that history since its founding in 1946. This first-ever MAA meeting on our campus will allow us to share with you our Institute’s wonderful library and campus facilities.
We have settled on a varied program, reaching across the disciplines, with roughly fifty sessions. Our plenary speakers are three. William Chester Jordan, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History at Princeton University, will deliver the presidential address. The opening plenary will be delivered by Elizabeth Eva Leach, Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, and the Fellows’ Session will be keynoted by Lawrence Nees, Professor of Art History at the University of Delaware. Manuscript exhibitions will be on display in the Special Collections Department of the University’s Theodore M. Hesburgh Library and at the University’s Snite Museum of Art (which maintains a permanent medieval collection for viewing). You may also choose to consult some of our manuscripts while you are here. The opening reception will be held in the Jordan Hall of Science, and includes a multimedia display of music and images centered on Hildegard of Bingen’s “Cosmic Egg” illumination. The CARA meeting will follow the conference on Sunday, March 15.
For those of you who are aficionados of the American automobile, or old enough to remember Studebakers, I remind you that they (along with Oliver farm equipment and much else) were manufactured in South Bend. You may choose to visit the Studebaker Museum, or take a meal at the Studebaker mansion built at the turn of the century in grand Romanesque style (where you are allowed to wander the rooms with their sampling of old photographs).
In sum, we hope to make this a memorable and intellectually productive meeting of the Academy. To receive conference updates, be sure to follow us on Facebook (a dedicated conference site will be launching soon) and Twitter (@MedievalND).
I wish each of you a productive academic year, and once again warmly invite you to join us at Notre Dame on March 12-14 for the annual meeting of the Medieval Academy of America.
John Van Engen
Andrew V. Tackes Professor of Medieval History
Robert M. Conway Director of the Medieval Institute
P.S. Our desire is to ensure a wonderful experience for each of you, beginning with your travel plans. If you feel that our personal touch could assist with any questions regarding special needs or other concerns you may have, please email maa15@nd.edu.
