Call for Papers: Next Year at Tempe, Arizona
In this issue...

Call for Papers: Next Year in Tempe, AZ
Breck Award for Best Paper
Quidditas: The New Name of the Journal
Sharon Beehler Selected as New Editor
1998 Conference
Invitation to Join
Web address

Next year's conference will take place in Tempe, Arizona, May 20-23, 1999. Organized by Nancy Gutierrez, President-elect of the RMMRA, and Philip Soergel under the auspices of Arizona State University and other Arizona institutions, with local arrangements by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the theme of the conference is "Marvels and Commonplaces in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance." James Fitzmaurice and Jean R. Brink are the Program Committee Chairs. All papers and proposed sessions on this theme or of related interest in the fields of medieval and Renaissance literature, history, art history, music, or interdisciplinary studies are welcome. As stated in the enclosed Call for Papers, proposals for either individual papers or complete sessions will be reviewed as received until April, 1999. Please send your proposals and abstracts to either Dr. James Fitzmaurice, Department of English, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-6032 (office 520-523-6270, fax 520-523-7074; e- mail jim.fitzmaurice@nau.edu) or Dr. Jean R. Brink, Department of English, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 (office 602-965-7777, fax 602-965-3451; e-mail jean.brink@asu.edu). All members are encouraged to disseminate this Call for Papers to others who may be interested. And by all means let the organizers know if there is someone not on our mailing list who would like more information. We are excited to return to Arizona for the 1999 conference. The Conference Hotel will be the Holiday Inn, Tempe, Arizona, whose rates will make this conference especially affordable for beginning scholars and graduate students. The conference organizers are planning to end paper sessions by Saturday evening to accommodate sight-seeing the next day. In addition to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, conference attendees may wish to visit Tucson and the museums in its vicinity, including the Biosphere in its stunning natural setting and the world- class Desert Sonora Museum. Once again, the timing and location of our conference provide a wonderful opportunity for a vacation in conjunction with the conference.

Future Conference locations include 2000: Salt Lake
City; 2001: Fort Collins, Colorado; and 2002: Jackson.

Breck Award for Best Paper
Graduate students and assistant professors who present papers at the 1999 conference are eligible to submit their papers for the Allan D. Breck Award. The Breck award will carry in the year 2000 an award of $300 and publication of the winning essay in the Association's journal, Quidditas. The 1998 winner was Goran Stanivukovic of the University College of Cape Breton. The deadline for submissions from the 1998 conference at Big Sky was September 1, 1998. We have received a record number of submissions and will announce the winner at Tempe.

Quidditas: The New Name of the RMMRA Journal At the June meeting, a new name for the Association's journal was selected: Quidditas. As the title's proposer, Sharon Beehler of Montana State, pointed out, in the Renaissance "quidditas" meant both "the essential nature of a thing" and "a subtlety of wit." For several years now the Executive Council has debated a name change. Although the Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association has always been a journal that publishes articles of both national and international scholarly interest, its title might have been taken to suggest a more regional publication. With the title Quidditas: JRMMRA, we hope to combine the best traditions of the JRMMRA with a new look. The Executive Council, in its capacity as Editorial Board for the journal, discussed several ways to make Quidditas more immediately visible to scholars, including advertising the new name, publishing a volume of solicited essays as well as volumes of essays by guest editors on specific topics. Sara Jayne Steen and Susan Frye have been asked to co-edit the first such thematic volume of Quidditas.

As always, the journal seeks not only scholars to submit articles in all areas of medieval and Renaissance studies, but also those willing to review books in their areas of specialization. We particularly need reviewers of books on foreign languages, art history, and music. If you are interested in reviewing for Quidditas, please contact our acting Book Review Editor, Lowell Gallagher (e-mail: gallaghe@humnet.ucla.edu). Members who have recently published books should also contact Gallagher.

Sharon Beehler Selected as New Editor of Quidditas

Sharon Beehler, Associate Professor of English at Montana State University, was selected as the new editor of the RMMRA's newly-titled journal, Quidditas. Beehler brings expertise, knowledge, and enthusiasm to her new position, and we are delighted to have her take over as editor. Former editor Catherine Corman Parry, whom the association thanks for all her hard work, has been doing her utmost to make sure that the transition is handled smoothly. Beehler is currently at work on volume 19 of the journal, the first to be called Quidditas. (Members should receive volumes 16, 17, and 18 shortly).

If you have articles for Sharon Beehler, comments, or questions, you may contact her at the Department of English, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, 59715 (office 406-994-5186; e-mail sbeehler@english.montana.edu).

1998 Conference RMMRA members gathered at Big Sky, Montana, from June 3-7, 1998, for our 30th annual meeting. The theme was "Goodly Worlds: Places, Topoi, and Global Riches." Plenary talks included Denys Turner on "The Art of Unknowing" and Sara T. Nalle's "Mad Messiahs and Inquisitors: Religious Insanity in Sixteenth Century Spain," and a number of lively sessions ensued. At the Business Meeting, Association Founders Boyd Hill and Harry Rosenberg addressed the Association on the occasion of its 30th anniversary; Nancy Gutierrez was elected to follow Susan Frye as President; Karen Robertson was elected Secretary; J.B. "Jack" Owens, Isabel Moreira, Phebe Jensen, and Stan Benfield were elected to the Executive Council. Although a cold snap visited the West during our conference weekend, visitors took the opportunity to visit nearby Yellowstone National Park. Set in the beautiful Montana mountains at a ski resort, this conference epitomized the RMMRA's ideal of combining spectacular Western scenery with first-rate intellectual stimulation. The Association's thanks go to Sara Jayne Steen and Sharon Beehler who, assisted by Nora Smith, so splendidly organized this conference, and to Montana State University for its support.

Invitation to Join If you join the RMMRA now, your subscription to the Journal of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association will be entered for the next available issue. Please note that all conference presenters need to be members of the Association. Please address your request (with $20 dues) to Susan Aronstein, Department of English, P.O. Box 3353, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, 82072.
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OUR WEB ADDRESS is
http://www.uni.edu/~swan/rmmra/rocky.htm, where you can catch updates on the conference as well as links to other relevant sites. Our thanks to Webmanager Jesse Swan.