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Minutes for the 2013 Executive Committee Meeting
by Graham Hammill

Minutes for the 2013 Executive Committee Meeting

 

The Executive Committee of the International Spenser Society met on January 4, 2013, in Boston, MA. Present were David Lee Miller (President, University of South Carolina), Graham Hammill (Vice-President, University at Buffalo, SUNY), Jane Grogan (University College Dublin), Thomas Herron (Eastern Carolina University), Julian Lethbridge (University of Tübingen), Gerard Passannante (University of Maryland), Ayesha Ramachandran (Stonybrook University), Melissa Sanchez (University of Pennsylvania), and Andrew Wallace (Carleton University). Also present was Joseph Loewenstein (ex officio to report on the Oxford edition of Spenser’s works, Washington University).

 

1. The committee reviewed and approved the minutes of the 2012 meeting.

2. David Miller delivered the following report:

Financial Report:

Beginning of the year balance $17,160

End of the year balance $18,601 

There is currently $1,435 in the graduate student fund (included in the balance above).

The Executive Committee voted to award $200 to graduate students presenting papers on ISS panels at MLA. Currently, these students are invited to the annual luncheon for free and receive a one-year free membership in ISS.

3. David Miller reviewed plans for the annual luncheon. The Isabel MacCaffrey Prize went to Andrew Zurcher for his essay, “The Printing of the Cantos of Mutabilitie in 1609.” The judges awarded honorable mention to Jane Grogan for her essay, “After the Mutabilitie Cantos: Yeats and Heaney Reading Spenser.” Both essays are published in Celebrating Mutabilie (Manchester UP, 2010), edited by Jane Grogan.

The Executive Committee discussed the implications for membership of The Spenser Review becoming an online open-access journal. Until it went online in 2008, only paying members received The Spenser Review. It was decided that the issue is not financial (since mailing and printing cost are no longer an issue) but is rather maintaining an up-to-date database of the membership. The Executive Committee proposed the following solution, which was accepted by the membership at the annual luncheon:

Membership dues will now be collected through Spenser Online. The Spenser Review homepage will include an invitation to join the International Spenser Society and will suggest that members make a contribution of $15. 

4. Three members of the Executive Committee need to be replaced: Cora Fox, Beth Quitslund, and Julian Lethbridge. New members nominated to the Executive Committee and elected at the luncheon are Andrew King (University College Cork), Tiffany Werth (Simon Fraser), and J.K. Barret (University of Texas.)

5. The committee discussed topics for MLA and RSA. These include “Spenser and Drama,” “Spenser and Narratology,” “Spenser and Iconography,” “Spenser’s Friends and Enemies,” and possibly in conjunction with other MLA divisions, “Spenser and the Medieval,” and “Spenser and Contemporary Poetry.” The RSA panel will be organized by Melissa Sanchez. The committee left final decisions for the panels to further discussion on email.

6. Jane Grogan proposed hosting an international conference on Spenser, tentatively entitled “Spenser’s Places / The Place of Spenser” in Dublin likely in June 2015. Members of the conference organizing committee are Jane Grogan, Thomas Herron, and Andrew King. The Executive Committee enthusiastically agreed to offer support and assistance on behalf of the ISS.

7. Judges were selected for the 2014 MacCaffrey Prize, for books published on Spenser in 2011-12. Ayesha Ramachandran and Theresa Krier agreed to serve.

8. Joseph Loewenstein reported that the Oxford Spenser will now be 6 volumes. Volume One (which includes A Theatre for Worldlings and the Harvey-Spenser correspondence) will be sent to Oxford UP in the summer of 2013, and Volume Two (1590 Faerie Queene) will be sent by the end of this year.

Washington University will house the digital archive of the Oxford Spenser, and the ISS will be the intellectual trustee of the archive (responsible for keeping the archives alive and up-to-date after the Oxford Spenser is published.) The Executive Committee appointed Graham Hammill to represent the Society in legal negotiations with Washington University in this matter.

9. Julian Lethbridge reported that The Spenser Review would be coming out online later this month. The committee endorsed the idea of The Spenser Review expanding to include reviews Renaissance scholarship and criticism beyond works on Spenser, possibly becoming an authoritative Renaissance review site. 

10. Under new business, it was mentioned that ISS might consider establishing a presence at the South Central Renaissance Conference.

Respectfully submitted, January 24, 2013

Graham Hammill

 

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43.1.14

Cite as:

Graham Hammill, "Minutes for the 2013 Executive Committee Meeting," Spenser Review 43.1.14 (Spring-Summer 2013). Accessed March 29th, 2024.
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