Message from the RMMLA President

As the incoming President of RMMLA I take this opportunity on behalf of the Board and the Executive Director, Joan Grenier-Winther, to extend my greetings to all of you and to express my appreciation to everyone for giving me the privilege of serving. As many of you know, this is my second term on the Board.

Our membership has remained stable over the recent years, but we are working on increasing our institutional membership and individual life membership. This year some organizations have expressed interest in joining us as affiliate groups. Although we are a regional association, in the past decade RMMLA has attracted increasingly more members--faculty and graduate students--from all over the United States, Canada, and even countries far away because of our tradition of fostering a broad range of professional activities including scholarship and research, publication, and professional development such as portfolio preparation. For many of these members, their first time participation in an RMMLA convention has turned into a life-long loyalty to the organization; indeed, some have moved to new positions in the Rocky Mountain region. All RMMLA members are to be commended for extending a warm welcome to our new members each year.

This geographic diversity of new membership has contributed to the greatest strengths of our organization: the breadth of our intellectual interests and exchanges, our openness toward new research areas and critical perspectives, and our humanistic mission of building intellectual camaraderie. I speak for the entire Board when I encourage you not only to renew your own membership, but to encourage colleagues, students, professional collaborators, and academic friends to join and take part in the RMMLA activities. Our dues are relatively low as an affiliate of MLA, and I believe that membership in the RMMLA is of utmost reward for everyone.

Our support personnel, particularly our able and dedicated Executive Director, as well as her Administrative Assistant at Washington State University, Jennifer Schiewe, along with the editorial staff of our excellent journals, The Rocky Mountain Review and E-Review--Michael Delahoyde, Senior Editor; Sabine Davis, Editor; and Nathanael Whitworth, Managing Editor--have given outstanding service to RMMLA operations. In addition, the RMMLA Board, including Vice President: José Suarez, University of Northern Colorado; Past President Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona; Delegates Gary Hatch, Brigham Young University, Joy Landeira, University of Northern Colorado; and Tara Powell, University of South Carolina; and Graduate Student Delegates Katie Arosteguy, Washington State University and Jennifer Brady, University of Colorado, have contributed their ideas and energy to our organization.

Even as we take pride in our sixty-year tradition and work together toward making the organization more effective, more useful, more efficient, and more supportive, we must remember the challenges that lie ahead for higher education in general, and for language and literature studies in particular. Attendance at our most recent conference in Reno last Fall was excellent, and we anticipate another exciting event this October 8-10 in scenic Snowbird, Utah, although budget constraints have led to drastic cuts in travel budget on most campuses. I want to extend another thank you to all those who helped make Reno such a gratifying event, particularly the Program Chairs who solicited, reviewed, selected, and organized proposals; the staff and local volunteers who helped run a smooth operation; and the Board for its site selection.

One aspect of our annual convention deserves special mention, because it reflects our commitment to foster professionalism and scholarship among graduate students: the opportunity for young scholars to get their CV’s reviewed, begun as a pilot session just a few years back, has become a special feature now. It offers a forum for our mutual interest in fostering an open exchange among all members irrespective of their academic status, age, gender, ethnicity, and research area. It is also a pleasure to review the conference program to see the exceptional variety of program activities, sessions, topics, formats, and participants.

RMMLA has always encouraged innovation in its program, recognizing that stimulating discourse can take place in a wide range of venues. Our current Executive Director, Joan Grenier-Winther, has made it a hallmark of her leadership to enable diverse presentational structures at conferences which has given rise to an inspiring richness of content.

This year, the RMMLA Board has increased both the number and the amount of awards for research and conference travel for faculty and graduate students. I encourage you to nominate colleagues or yourself for service on the RMMLA Board of Directors. From my two-term experience, I can honestly say it is rewarding work. We stay healthy through influx of new ideas that the Board brings to our program; it is also a wonderful personal and professional experience to serve with such a committed group. Nominations and self-nominations are due to the Secretariat by November 1 (email ok).

I look forward to seeing you in Snowbird in October.

Sincerely,
Sura P. Rath
President, RMMLA
Central Washington University
February 2009

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