Notes from the Executive Director

Notes from the Executive Director Elections Stacy Burton from University of Nevada, Reno, was elected as Vice-President of RMMLA. She will serve a three-year term, becoming President next year and Past-President in her third year. Joseph Collentine of Northern Arizona University was elected to a threeyear term as Delegate-at-Large, and Amelia Ramirez from the University of Denver was elected to the trial Graduate Student position . Leaving the Executive Board are Carol Scates of New Mexico Highlands and Barbara Lafford of Arizona State University. We thank them for their good work. RMMLA/Huntington Award A committee chaired by Stacy Burton (University of Nevada, Reno) with members Judith Whitnack (University of Nevada, Reno) and Joanna Brooks (UCLA) has selected Amelia Ramirez, University of Denver, to receive the 1996 Award. Ramirez will translate the letters of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton and analyze them in relation to her creative work. Ruiz de Burton, a Mexican citizen , married General Henry S. Burton and became a U.S. citizen but saw herself in her letters as a complex mix of two cultures. Members interested in the $1800 RMMLA/Huntington Award may apply by submitting five copies of a proposal and vita by 1 January 1997 to Charles G. Davis, RMMLA, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho 83725. Criteria for the award include the appropriateness of the proposal to the holdings of the Huntington Library, the likelihood that the project will be finished, and the proposed distribution of the results. Home for the Secretariat There is an opportunity for members to become Executive Director of the RMMLA and Editor of the Review. This would involve moving the home ofthe organization to your institution. To determine why this might be of interest to you and why your administration would benefit from supporting it, contact Charles Davis at 208-385-1199; e-mail cdavis@quartz.idbsu.edu. RMMLA's Fiftieth Anniversary In a letter to Ingeborg Carlson, Arizona State University (Executive Director of RMMLA, 1978-84), T. M. Pearce, University of New Mexico, described the founding of the RMMLA: Since a good many faculty members had belonged to the Modern Language Association before coming to the Rocky Mountain states and had attended post-Christmas meetings usually held on the east coast or in the mid-west, there was a general feeling that the Rocky Mountain area could profit from a regional association. . . . For this reason I consulted with Professor J. M. Kerchville, Modern Language Department, University of New Mexico, and with other members of that institution about forming such an organization. Through correspondence and planning we prepared for the First meeting of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, to be held in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday, November 28 & 29, 1947, upon the invitation of the University of New Mexico. The local committee of the meeting in Albuquerque consisted of the following individuals: R.M. Duncan, Kerchville, G.W. Arms, W.W.P. Albrecht, W.D. Jacobs, A. Lopes, and Katherine Simons. The Association held its first General Meeting in the Ball Room of the Hilton Hotel on Friday at 4 pm. The Chairman was Levette Davidson of the University of Denver. The RMMLA continues to fulfill the original purposes of stimulating interest in language and literature and enriching the cultural life of the region. The program has expanded from the original 8 sessions to over 80; the American Dialect Society held the only conjoint meeting that year and by 1996 has been joined by 16 other conjoint sessions; the focus of papers has shifted from reports on library resources in the area or papers such as "The Great Critics Sit in Judgement." The four-page Bulletin has become the 112-page Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature. The composition of the membership has also changed, but the organization sponsors an Open Forum for membership participation. The reputation of collegiality which the organization enjoys will provide a focus for the fiftieth anniversary celebration. Former members of the Board will be recognized at a reception Thursday evening, and members will have a chance to party together at a fiftieth anniversary dance on Friday. Both social events are sponsored by the University of New Mexico. We...