Dr. Michelle Medeiros, assistant professor of Spanish in Marquette University’s Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, has been named president of the Midwest Modern Language Association at its 62nd annual convention, Nov. 5, in Milwaukee.
Medeiros is the first Latina president of the organization and will serve as the chief executive officer of the MMLA for 2021-22. She was elected vice president last year and will assume the role of treasurer following her term.
“I am honored to be named the first Latina president of the MMLA, and I am eager to support a continued emphasis on diversity in languages and in our field,” Medeiros said. “The JMMLA has only recently started accepting papers in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese, and we have just published our first essays in Spanish and French in 58 years. It is my goal to continue to advocate for diversity and inclusion in the executive committee, and we will make sure other languages will be always represented. We have also included a special session in the annual meeting specially concerned with issues related to diversity, inclusion and equity in our profession.”
In consultation with the executive director, the MMLA president acts on behalf of the executive committee in the administration of the organization. As president, she will also be the editor of the Fall 2022 issue of the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association. Medeiros joined the MMLA in 2018. She has chaired and organized over 30 panels in Latin American Literature, served as a guest editor for the spring 2019 and co-editor for the fall 2020 issues of the journal.
Founded in 1959, incorporated in 1971 and based at Loyola University Chicago, the Midwest Modern Language Association is a non-profit organization of teachers and scholars of literature, language and culture. A regional affiliate of the Modern Language Association, the MMLA provides a forum for disseminating and furthering the exchange of knowledge, teaching, discovery and learning in modern languages and literatures. Members of the MMLA hail from many different departments, including Comparative Literature, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Linguistics.