MMLA affiliation review at Iowa

[Dennis Preston]

Kate,

I bet the MLS (Michigan Linguistics Society) would welcome (in its
fall meeting) a joining of forces with MADS, but, of course, it
wouldn't give  whack about MMLA. Just a thought.

Dennis



>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Kathryn Remlinger <remlingk at GVSU.EDU>
>Subject:      MMLA affiliation review at Iowa
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Greetings all,
>
>Below is message from Kathleen Diffley of the MMLA about the loss
>MMLA's affiliation with the University of Iowa. MMLA has generously
>held the ADS Midwest regional meetings over the years. Any
>support--either by writing a letter or by suggesting other possible
>university affiliations--that you can offer could help the
>situation. The message includes all the details. If you'd like me to
>send you the attachment she refers to, let me know.
>
>Many thanks,
>Kate
>
>*******
>From:   <kathleen-diffley at uiowa.edu>    Wednesday - July 11, 2007 9:25 PM
>To:     <remlingk at gvsu.edu>
>Subject:        M/MLA affiliation review at Iowa
>
>Dear Kate,
>
>Because you have been active in the M/MLA for a good long stretch, I
>thought you might want to know that things have not gone well this
>past year, thanks to an unexpected report.  After more than 40 years,
>the University of Iowa has decided to withdraw its support from the
>Midwest Modern Language Association.  More specifically, Iowa's CLAS
>dean now wants to reclaim the graduate research assistant, the Program
>Associate, the ED's two-course release, and the M/MLA's space.
>
>This is a bolt from the blue.  What began as a review of fiscally
>ailing journals in the English Department, which only included the
>*M/MLA Journal* because of the grad RA, has turned into code blue for
>the M/MLA and salvation for everyone else.  Fortunately, after much
>arguing the dean has reluctantly postponed termination until August
>2008.
>
>For what it's worth, recent performance does not seem to be the issue;
>rather, it's too many undergrads to teach at a time when budgets have
>been cut sharply.  Nevertheless, the M/MLA now faces an uncertain
>future that includes convention hotel contracts signed through 2010,
>all of them with stiff cancellation penalties.
>
>Everyone in the office and on the EC is in shock and casting about for
>reasonable responses.  You too, I'm guessing.  Because you might be
>interested in how widely affiliation support actually varies across
>the country, I'm attaching a table that details conversations this
>spring with the EDs and editors at the five other regional MLAs.
>
>In a nutshell, things are rosier to the south, harsher to the west.
>At the moment, three regionals (SAMLA, M/MLA, RMMLA) house both
>journal and convention in the same dept at the same university; the
>other half have split those operations but relatively recently.  Until
>1999, as I understand it, PAMLA was housed entirely at Pepperdine;
>until the last few years, SCMLA enjoyed remarkable and seemingly
>permanent funding at Texas A&M, which now supports only the journal.
>
>If there is a future for regional MLAs, financial independence seems
>to be the key, and creative ideas seem to be the ticket.  You can see
>at a glance that I haven't put a price on course releases, the very
>expenditures that have apparently incensed the dean.  Should the M/MLA
>consider turning stipends into buyouts, despite other affiliation
>arrangements?  Perhaps seek university press support for the journal,
>as SCMLA's *South Central Review* has at Johns Hopkins UP?  More
>drastically, is it time to split up the convention and the journal?
>You can bet I have already contacted Rosemary Feal, and she is taking
>the situation to the MLA board.  But in this rattled moment, got
>thoughts?
>
>Come September, I will meet with Dean Maxson, who could at least
>guarantee that the M/MLA will not dissolve while affiliation
>arrangements elsewhere are underway and hotel contracts still need to
>be honored.  With that in mind and on the chance that you might know
>of a department or institution that could be interested in an M/MLA
>future, I'm also attaching the brief self-study this year's review
>mandated.  If you'd like to see the appendices noted in passing, let
>me know.  Naturally I'd also be happy to detail current finances
>(which are good) and the M/MLA's truly modest needs, which run to
>roughly $50-70K plus space--or half that if the convention and the
>journal go separate ways.
>
>Meanwhile, perhaps a message of consternation to the dean, especially
>after so many decades of recognition?  She may be reached at
>linda-maxson at uiowa.edu, and you can guess that she might appreciate
>knowing about the nature and extent of your involvement.  It would be
>a further kindness to copy the M/MLA (mmla at uiowa.edu) so the office
>has a sense of what the dean is hearing.
>
>The report I've received suggests that the *M/MLA Journal* represents
>too little bang for the buck--or, more exactly, too little prestige
>for the penny, even with the addition of the annual convention.
>Perhaps here, too, both the self-study and the record of institutional
>support across the regional MLAs might be of use.  The issue seems to
>be what a Research 1 institution should rightly support as well as
>what constituency the M/MLA should rightly serve.
>
>Any help you can provide--contacting the dean on behalf of the
>Association, making inquiries about a possible new home (or homes), or
>offering advice about how the M/MLA might move toward more solid
>footing--would be welcome.  If I can lend a hand, just let me know.
>Otherwise, I'm simply--well, stunned.
>
>Yours in dismay,
>kathleen
>
>Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D.
>Associate Professor of English: Linguistics
>Grand Valley State University
>Allendale, Michigan
>tel: 616-331-3122
>fax: 616-331-3430
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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