The Medieval Academy Blog

As ever, the Medieval Academy will have a strong presence at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. We hope you will join us for these sessions and special events:

1) The Friday morning plenary, sponsored by the Academy, will be delivered by Carissa Harris (Temple University), “Medieval Reproductive Justice” (8:30 AM, Sangren 1910). Two related sessions organized by Prof. Harris will take place on Thursday at 3:30 PM (Session 118, Sangren Hall 1910, “Managing Reproduction in the Middle Ages”) and Friday at 10 AM (Session 175, Sangren Hall 1910, “Medieval Reproductive Justice (A Roundtable)).”

2) The Graduate Student Committee workshop, “Open-Source Medieval Studies: Digital Tools and Tricks for Graduate Student Research,” led by Benjamin Albritton, will take place on Thursday at 1:30 PM (Session 63, Sangren Hall 2110). A second GSC Roundtable will take place on Friday at 3:30 PM (Session 288, Sangren Hall 2710 (hybrid), “Publishing as a Graduate Student”). Finally, please join the Graduate Student Committee for their annual ICMS Mixer on Thursday evening from 6-7 PM in the Social Room at Kanley Chapel.

3) The Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) Roundtable, “Building and Growing Medieval Studies: Creating Communities of Passion Beyond,” will take place on Saturday at 3:30 PM (Session 470, Waldo Library 3077). Due to the new footprint and schedule for the ICMS this year, we will not be hosting a CARA luncheon. We hope to revive that tradition next year.

4) Finally, we invite you to visit our staffed table in the exhibit hall on Thursday or Friday to introduce yourself, transact any Medieval Academy business you may have, or pick up some chocolate to keep you going during those long afternoon sessions. As in the past, we will be giving away fifty free one-year memberships to new members, so spread the word!

See you at the ‘Zoo!

The MAA has recently awarded the following grants:

Belle da Costa Greene Award: The 2024 Belle da Costa Greene Award has been presented to Thelma Trujillo (Univ. of Iowa), to support her project “Shades of Sanctity: Race in the Hagiographic Imagination.”

Constable Awards: The 2024 Oliva Remie Constable Awards have been presented to: Jacob Bell, “Unfreedom in the early medieval world”; Sarah Emily Bromberg, “Jewish Art and Exegesis for Christian Eyes: The Reception of Nicholas of Lyra’s Illustrated Biblical Commentary (1335-c.1700)”; Esther Liberman Cuenca, “On the Legal Materiality of Women’s Inheritances in Late Antiquity”; Kathleen Forste, “Rural Agriculture and Foodways in Islamic Iberia.”

Schallek Awards: The 2024 Schallek Awards have been presented to: Hannah Keller (The Ohio State Univ.), Tierney LaValley (Univ. of Exeter), Regina Albert Noto (Brown Univ.), Isabelle Ostertag (Univ. of Virginia), Jordan Kenneth Skinner (Princeton Univ.)

Congratulations! We are very pleased to be able to support these scholars and their research.

We are very pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 CARA Summer Scholarships: Noah Cole (Florida State University); Sarah Elizabeth Frisbie (Case Western Reserve Univ.); Carmela Furio (Univ. of Iowa); Liberty Huther (Univ. of Missouri), Edward Zack Maza (Princeton Univ.); Natalie Jane Nitsch (Univ. of Chicago); Pilar Rivett (Univ. of Oxford); Shannah Rose (New York Univ.); Katerina Yankanich (The George Washington University).

These scholarships support summer coursework in subjects not available at the applicants’ home institution.

The Medieval Academy of America’s Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA) invites nominations to fill three upcoming vacancies on its Executive Committee. With a special focus upon teaching at all levels, CARA strives to assist institutions and individual medievalists in meeting the challenges that face medieval studies in the classroom, the library, and other institutional settings locally and nationally. It also supports those who work to develop special projects and programs of instruction, local and regional networks of medievalists, and centers of research and institutions in medieval studies, working in collaboration with the Academy’s K-12 Committee as well as organizations such as TEAMS (the Teaching Association for Medieval Studies).

Members of the Executive Committee serve four-year terms; in addition to working with the CARA Chair on programming, outreach, and curricular initiatives, each member serves on two of CARA’s four subcommittees responsible for the CARA Teaching Award, the CARA Robert Kendrick Service Prize, the CARA Regional Conference Grant, and the MAA-CARA Graduate Student Summer Scholarships. Members of the CARA Executive Committee also are eligible to serve as CARA’s Director of Conference Programs, responsible for organizing CARA sessions at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies as well as the CARA plenary at the annual Medieval Academy meeting and the annual CARA meeting.

Service on the CARA Executive Committee is open to all members in good standing of the Medieval Academy of America, who may nominate themselves or be nominated by another individual. Nominations should include the following:

1. Name of nominee;

2. Nominee’s institutional or professional affiliation (including that of independent scholar);

3. A brief (c. 250-word) statement indicating the nominee’s qualifications for Executive Committee service, including their contributions to the areas of teaching, center or program administration, and/or professional collaboration and development in the field of Medieval Studies.

In accordance with CARA’s Policies and Procedures, nominations will be accepted until 1 November 2024 and reviewed thereafter by the CARA Executive Committee, which will forward its recommended candidate for approval by the Medieval Academy’s Council. The term of service for new members will begin at the conclusion of CARA’s annual meeting at Harvard University in March 2025. Please send nominations, as well as any questions or requests for further information, to the CARA Chair, Lauren Mancia (LaurenMancia@brooklyn.cuny.edu).