Notes from "Thinking Beyond the Thesis: Planning Your Career in Medieval Studies"

Kathleen Neal has composed a useful set of informative notes based on the GSC's latest roundtable panel at ANZAMEMS. These can be found here.

Acknowledgements: Notes produced by Kathleen Neal (Monash Univ.). Thanks to Michelle Smith (Univ. Auckland) for help with note taking, and to the session participants, Alastair Minnis (Yale Univ.), Kim Phillips (Univ. Auckland), Dauvit Broun (Univ. Glasgow) and Elizabeth Freeman (Univ. Tasmania) for generous input to the session and to the production of this summary.

Become a Member of the Graduate Student Committee

All graduate student members of the Academy are invited and encouraged to apply to serve as members of the Graduate Student Committee (April 2011 through April 2013). This opportunity is open to all graduate students worldwide who are members of the Medieval Academy and have at least two years remaining in their programs of study. If you are interested, please fill out the nomination form found here. Send a brief CV and the completed form including your statement of intent (300 words max.) to Paul E. Szarmach (PES@MedievalAcademy.org) by 21 March 2011. The new committee members will be selected at the annual meeting in Scottsdale in April.

Interested in helping other medieval Graduate Students?

The Graduate Student Committee of the Medieval Academy of America would like to announce its sponsorship of a mentorship program. Those who would like to receive mentoring or serve as a mentor should register online by using the form below. Sarah Parker(scelentano@mail.utexas.edu) will coordinate the program this year.

The intent of the mentorship program is to offer an informal means for experienced scholars to welcome and briefly connect with newer members of the medievalist community and to help facilitate social and professional interaction. The initial extent of the commitment would be for mentees and mentors to meet for a brief conversation at the beginning of a given conference. The continuation of the mentorship will be at the discretion of the parties involved. Some ways the mentor might continue to assist the mentee include: being a friendly and supportive contact via e-mail, answering questions about the on-goings of the MAA, discussing various aspects of professional life, teaching, or working within a department, or offering tips about the job market. The purpose of the mentorship program is not for detailed career advice, serious academic mentorship, or for intense discussions of research, although these are not to be excluded. Rather, the program is intended to offer a mechanism through which more experienced academics can offer professional and academic advice to graduate students. Please direct enquiries to Sarah Parker via the online form available here.

Graduate Students in the Medieval Academy

As part of its goal to promote instruction and scholarship in all areas of medieval studies, The Medieval Academy supports programs designed specifically for its graduate-student members. The Academy has more than 800 student members, who are represented in the Academy's governance structure by the Graduate Student Committee. It maintains Med-Grad, a listserv to encourage discussion of issues of importance to graduate students, and also organizes programs of interest to graduate students.

The Academy also offers competitive grants to provide financial assistance for students writing doctoral dissertations on medieval topics or taking summer courses in medieval Latin or paleography. Through its Committee on Centers and Regional Associations (CARA), the Academy also maintains a Ph.D. registry project and a list of programs in medieval studies in North America.