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  • Proceedings of the Milton Society of America

Midland Hotel, 172 West Adams and La Salle, Chicago

December 28, 1999

Secretary: A.C. Labriola, Dept. of English, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282

(Email: Labriola@duq.edu)

The officers and Executive Committee met in a preliminary session at 4:00 PM in the La Salle Room of the Midland Hotel, Chicago. Present were Jason P. Rosenblatt (President), John Mulryan, (Vice President), Labriola (Secretary), Diana Treviño Benet (Treasurer) and the following members of the Executive Committee: Heather Dubrow and Edward Jones. Excused were Amy Boesky, Gale Carrithers, Charles W. Durham, and Robert Entzminger.

  1. 1. OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. The following members of the society were nominated for offices: John Mulryan for President, Achsah Guibbory for Vice President, and Jameela Lares and Catherine Gimelli Martin for three-year membership on the Executive Committee (2000–2002), replacing Amy Boesky and Heather Dubrow.

  2. 2. TREASURER’S REPORT. Benet indicated that assets and net worth of the society as of July 1, 1999, were $3,450.09. Benet highlighted the need for a dues increase, the first in twelve years. Labriola added that the provision for amending the Bylaws to permit a dues increase had been met; for members had been notified in writing on October 1st, at least 30 days before the impending referendum and voice-vote at the general business meeting on December 28th. The proposed dues increase included: student membership from $5.00 to $10.00, general membership from $10.00 to $20.00, and life membership from $100.00 to $250.00.

    To mitigate the effect of an increase in dues on certain members of the society, Heather Dubrow reintroduced (from last year) her suggestion of creating another classification of membership that included part-time and adjunct faculty whose dues would be lower than that of general membership. This will become an item for discussion at the executive session in 2000. Dubrow also reintroduced (from last year) her suggestion for creating a fund to reduce the cost of the dinner for graduate students. This too will be discussed at the executive session in 2000.

  3. 3. COMMITTEE ON SCHOLARLY AWARDS. Benet indicated that the committee will include Joseph A. Wittreich (chair), Joan Secord Bennett, and Robert T. Fallon. Wittreich will administer the activities of the committee for the coming year, but for the year thereafter he has requested to be replaced, because he will be abroad. He was indefinite about returning to the committee after having been abroad.

  4. 4. SECRETARY’S REPORT. Labriola indicated that his announcements were printed on pages 4–5 of the annual booklet.

  5. 5. OPEN MEETING AT MLA 2000 in Washington, D.C. The following open meetings, each 75 minutes long, were approved:

    1. A. “John Milton: A General Session I” with John Mulryan presiding.

    2. B. “John Milton: A General Session II” (emphasis on newer voices in Milton studies), with Edward Jones presiding.

NOTE THE FOLLOWING RULES FOR THE ABOVE-MENTIONED MEETINGS:

  1. 1. The chair should have papers (8 pp., typewritten and double-spaced, for a reading time of 20 mins.) By March 15th. Usually three papers are chosen, and the chair may appoint a respondent; or two longer papers may be selected, with or without a respondent; or a panel discussion might be organized.

  2. 2. The Chair must submit the names of participants, academic affiliations, and titles of presentations to [End Page 31] Labriola no later than April 1st. Labriola’s Fax is 412-396-4792; his E-mail (Labriola@duq.edu).

  3. 3. Labriola will place an announcement in the Spring MLA Newsletter; Benet will include notice in her upcoming letter to all members; and chairs of the open meetings are urged to publicize in other ways.

  4. 4. All presenters must be members of MLA. If not, they must join by April 1st unless their specialty is something other than language and literature, in which cases they must seek, through Labriola, special permission for their participation from the MLA Executive Director.

  5. 5. Chairs are encouraged to be in contact with each other to be sure that they are not considering duplicate papers and to call attention to papers that may seem more suitable for...

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