http://medieval.ucdavis.edu/map/presidentapril05.htm

Letters from the Ex-President of MAP

April 12, 2005

Dear Members and Prospective Members of the Medieval Association of the Pacific:

Warmed (despite the cold showers outside my window) by our recent conference at San Francisco State University, I am delighted to welcome all returning members of MAP, as well as to urge prospective members to join this most collegial of associations. I have been a member of MAP since joining the English department at the University of British Columbia in 1990, and since then have never failed to be impressed by MAP’s membership and its meetings. We turn 40 this year, and we can look back on four decades of stimulating scholarship and enduring friendships. I hope you’ll all stay with us to see what the next decades will bring

The meeting at San Francisco State was superbly organized by Bill Bonds, Jarbel Rodriguez, and their local arrangements committee, and it is worth registering yet again in this format our profound thanks for the wonderful work they did. The meeting rooms and catering were superb, with no detail, however small, having been overlooked. Two masterly keynote addresses, by Patrick J. Geary and Warren Ginsberg, were highlights of the program, as was the performance of early music directed by William Mahrt. Our business meeting allowed us to thank four retiring council members– Roger Dahood, Leslie Arnovick, Mathew Kuefler, and Karen Mathews– and to confirm their replacements– Laurel Amtower, Linda Georgianna, Kathleen Maxwell, and Arlene Sindelar. We also confirmed Mary-Lyon Dolezal as the replacement for Debora Schwartz, who had resigned as Treasurer.

MAP’s next meeting will take place in Salt Lake City, Utah, hosted by Westminster College, March 3-4, 2006. Local arrangements are being handled by Georgiana Donavin. Abstracts for papers will be due November 1, 2005 and can be sent via e-mail attachment simultaneously to Georgiana Donavin, local arrangement organizer, and Brenda Schildgen, secretary of MAP. Because this will be MAP’s 40th anniversary, we are hoping to recognize some of our history and the history of our discipline at this meeting, through special sessions.
 
MAP is an excellent venue for graduate students. If you are a faculty member, please encourage your students to join and to attend our meetings: you might even consider making them a gift of a graduate student membership.  Graduate student members are reminded that MAP subsidizes student registration fees for our annual meetings, and that it makes available the following awards and prizes: the John F. Benton Travel Awards, which contribute $400 towards the cost of travel to conferences for independent scholars and graduate students; and the Founder's Prizes, given to the best graduate student papers delivered at the annual MAP conference. The next deadline for the Benton awards is November 1, 2005: applications should be made to the Vice President, Phyllis Brown (PBrown@scu.edu). Graduate students who wish their papers to be considered for the Founders’ Prize should submit their papers, preferably electronically, to John Ott (ott@pdx.edu) by September 15, 2005.
 
I look forward to seeing many of you in Utah next March. In the meantime, do check in with the website to keep abreast of MAP’s activities.
 
Sincerely,     
                                                          
Siân Echard                                    
President, MAP