Events of Interest to Graduate Student Members at the 2021 MLA Annual Convention

Graduate Student Lounge. A lounge where graduate students can meet for discussion, networking, and relaxation.

The lounge will be open at the following times:

Thursday, 7 January:          9:30–10:00 a.m.; 4:45–5:15 p.m.
Friday, 8 January:                9:30–10:00 a.m.; 1:15–1:45 p.m.; 4:45–5:15 p.m.; 8:45–9:30 p.m.
Saturday, 9 January:           9:30–10:00 a.m.; 1:15–1:45 p.m.; 8:00–8:45 p.m.
Sunday, 10 January:           9:30–10:00 a.m.; 11:30 a.m.–12:00 noon; 4:45–5:15 p.m.

Lounge activities. Each day we will hold drawings for door prizes. Join us for your chance to win exciting items!

Social networking. The Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Humanities (CSGSH) encourages attendees to tweet sessions using the convention hashtag (#mla21) and session hashtags (e.g., #S330). Follow the committee on Twitter @MLAgrads.

Blog. The CSGSH has created a blog, MLAgrads, covering the annual convention, the job market, and other issues relevant to graduate student members of the MLA.

MLA Career Center.
MLA Career Center Counseling I
MLA Career Center Counseling II

Sessions. Sessions of particular interest to graduate students include the following:

WEDNESDAY, 6 JANUARY

11:30 AM - 2:30 PM

4. New Horizons in Graduate Education Reform

Preregistration is required. - Sold out

2:45 PM - 4:15 PM

6. Preconvention Workshop on Career Paths and Mentoring for PhDs in English

Preregistration is required.

7. Career Pathways for Job Seekers in Languages

Preregistration is required.

THURSDAY, 7 JANUARY

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Meet and Chat with the Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Humanities

Hosts: Viana Hara, Didem Uca

Door prizes for the first five who join!

10:15 AM - 11:30 AM

11. Critical Pedagogies: Mentoring, Training, and Placing PhD Students in People-of-Color Fields

18. Reforming Graduate School: Theories, Practices, and Goals

21. Antiracist Practices for Working with Students

36. How to Get Published

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

44. “But Students Could Never Do My Kind of Research”: Models of Undergraduate Research in College English

65. Contemporary American Mental Health

69. Teaching in a Time of Crisis: The Big Pivot

71. Scholarly Editing in the Digital Age

88. Teaching and Training in Irish Studies in a World of Hybrid Humanities: Where to Next?

102. High Anxiety: Serving At-Risk Students during a Pandemic

104A. Writing outside the Academy

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM

116. Digital Humanities, Digital Poetics

121. Indexing for the MLA International Bibliography

130. Disability, Mentoring, and Interdependence

137. Graduate Admissions Today: Paused, Cut, Shifted?

4:45 PM – 5:15 PM

Graduate Student Networking (Graduate Student Lounge Break)

Host: Kayla Forrest

Door prizes for first five who join!

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

152. Beyond Course Evaluations: Assessing Teaching and Learning for Tenure and Promotion in the Humanities

155. The Humanities Responds to COVID-19

160. Opening Publishing to the Public?

165. Digital Project Showcase

7:00 PM - 8:15 PM

173. Diagnosing America

178. Languages of Class

197. Reimagining the MLA of Tomorrow: Needs and New Directions

FRIDAY, 8 JANUARY

9:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Ninety-Second Dissertation/Thesis Flash Presentations––Share your work and get feedback! (Graduate Student Lounge Break)

Host: Didem Uca

Door prizes for first five who join!

10:15 AM - 11:30 AM

*204. International Experiences in Graduate Study

218. Instituting Access: Persistence, Pandemic, and Precarity

229. Changing Departmental and Institutional Cultures for Equity: Diversifying University Leadership

231. Getting Your Book Published

10:15 AM - 1:15 PM

228. Language and Literature Program Innovation Room

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

238. Butts in Seats: The Enrollment Crisis and the Profession

259. Open Hearing of the MLA Delegate Assembly

262. Borrowed Tools for Digital Scholarship and Pedagogy

12:00 PM - 1:45 PM

235. Presidential Plenary: Poetics of Persistence in Black Life

1:15 PM - 1:45 PM

Graduate Student Networking: Building a Strong Support System (and Graduate Student Lounge hangout time)

Host: Ariadne Wolf

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

285. Thinking Forward: The Future of 20/21 Studies

289. Open Hearing on Resolutions

294. Data Privacy Now: A Public Conversation about Private Information

300. Online Learning in the Humanities: Lessons Learned

301. Making Art Work in the Time of COVID: Emergent Affordances

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM

319. Changing Departmental and Institutional Culture for Equity: Best Practices for Allyship and Mentoring

322. Teaching Literature and the Humanities in Prison

3:30 PM - 5:15 PM

301A. Call for Persistence in Reconfiguring the Global

4:45 PM - 5:15 PM

Share Your Strategies: Discussing Ways We Deal with Stress and Adversity in Graduate Work (Graduate Student Lounge Break)

Host: Kayla Forrest

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

367. Gender and Aging in Academic Workplaces

370. Making Art Work in the Time of COVID: Modes of Performance

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

371. The Presidential Address

7:15 PM - 8:30 PM

373. Social Event Arranged by the Women’s Caucus for the Modern Languages, Feministas Unidas, Women in French, GL/Q Caucus, and Women in German

374. Networking Event for LGBTQ+ Scholars

376. Connection, Conversation, and Strategizing Social Arranged by LLC African American

8:45 PM - 9:30 PM

Graduate Student Social Hour

Host: Kayla Forrest, Stephen Olsen

SATURDAY, 9 JANUARY

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Saturday at the MLA! (Graduate Student Lounge Break)

Host: Kayla Forrest

Door prizes for first five who join!

10:15 AM - 11:30 AM

388. English Majors’ Career Preparation and Outcomes

403. A Call to Action: The MLA Report on Ethical Conduct in Graduate Education

406. Sustaining Persistence at a Two-Year College in a Time of Viral Chaos

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Humanities in Five

1:15 PM - 1:45 PM

Graduate Student Networking and Relaxation Time

Host: Brian DeGrazia, Kayla Forrest

Door prizes for first five who join!

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

455. Linguistics at the MLA? Persistence and Finding Space for Linguistics

471. Digital Humanities in/and Crisis

477. Professionalization in Book History, Bibliography, and Textual Editing: Entering the Field without Formal Training

2:15 PM - 5:15 PM

478. MLA Delegate Assembly

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM

481. Perspectives on Digital Humanities Publishing

482. Applied Linguistics in Graduate Education for Modern Language Programs

487. Developing Diverse Leadership

509. Community College Teaching as Public Humanities Practice

510. Persistence in Precarity: Academia’s Gendered Cost of Living

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

539. Networking Skills and Strategies for Scholars of Color

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

545. MLA Awards Ceremony

7:15 PM - 8:30 PM

550. Networking Event for Scholars of Color

552. CUNY English PhD Program Social Event

8:00 PM - 8:45 PM

Graduate Student Social Hour

Host: June Di Marzo

SUNDAY, 10 JANUARY

9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Coffee with the Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Humanities

Hosts: Didem Uca, Kayla Forrest

Door prizes for first five who join!

10:15 AM - 11:30 AM

568. What We Still Need to Know about Student Writing and How We Can Know It

573. Inequities of Contingency: Microaggressions, Intellectual Respect, Diversity, and Inclusion

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

Graduate Student Networking: Discussion Networking inside and outside Academia: How to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Network (Graduate Student Lounge Break)

Host: Matthew Pincus

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

602. First-Generation PhDs in the Academy

603. The Challenges of Artificial Intelligence in the Two-Year Foreign Language Classroom

612. Power/Structures: Designing a More Inclusive Future for the Humanities

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

616. Careers in Community Colleges and the Job Search

631. Publishing While Precarious: Problems and Practices

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM

661. Organizing University Labor

4:45 PM - 5:15 PM

Stress Management and Mental Health Strategies for Graduate Students: Graduate Student Networking and Convention Wrap-up

Host: Viana Hara

5:15 PM - 6:30 PM

685. Class and Academe

*691. Nontraditional Graduate Students: Present Successes and Future Possibilities

706. Teaching Disability Studies in the Humanities: Options and Opportunities

*Program arranged by the MLA Committee on the Status of Graduate Students in the Humanities.