This is the February/Early March MAPACA Newsletter.
In this newsletter, we have:
- 2024 conference award winners
- Openings for the MAPACA Board of Advisors and Assistant VP of Areas
- Exciting updates coming soon!
2024 conference award winners
Congratulations to the winners of our 2024 conference awards, The Ralph Donald Award and the Daniel Walden Prize. Winners will have their papers published in Response, our online journal of popular and American culture.
The Ralph Donald Award recognizes an outstanding paper and presentation delivered at MAPACA’s annual conference. This award is named in honor of Ralph Donald. Award recipients receive recognition and complimentary registration to the following year’s conference.
Donald Award: Jessica Williams, “Voices: Embodied incorporeality in Lucille Clifton’s poetry” in Black Studies.
The Walden Prize for Graduate and Undergraduate Papers is awarded annually to outstanding emerging scholars in popular culture studies.
Graduate Walden Award: LaTiana Ridgell, “Black girlhood through children’s hair relaxer advertisements” in Fashion, Style, and Consumer Culture.
Undergraduate Walden Award: Ashley Zingillioglu, “‘Talking with my classmates’: An interactive social story for students with autism” in Play Studies.
Congratulations to all our nominees for their outstanding presentations at our conference!
Join the MAPACA Board
MAPACA Board of Advisors openings
MAPACA seeks volunteers for the Board of Advisors from diverse scholarly backgrounds and perspectives who are enthusiastic about ensuring the organization’s continued growth and vitality. Members of the Board of Advisors support the Executive Board and Officers, to eventually step into one of those roles.
Board members help organize the annual conference and work throughout the year on various organizational responsibilities. As noted in the constitution, board members should ideally hail from the Mid-Atlantic region, though the board may use its discretion when considering applicants from outside the region. Ideally, potential members should be willing to attend the summer board meeting, usually held at the conference site, and should be able to attend the conference in its entirety, arriving a day early to assist with organizational tasks. However, we recognize that in the current moment, physical presence may be challenging, and certain accommodations can be made.
While all former MAPACA attendees are welcome to apply, the organization particularly seeks volunteers interested in area coordination, diversity and inclusion, conference planning, communications and social media, and serving as treasurer.
Interested applicants should download, complete, and submit the application and a 4-page CV to president@mapaca.net by March 28, 2025. New members will contribute to both the summer symposium and the annual conference. We will contact you at the end of April regarding your application’s status.
Assistant VP of Areas
MAPACA seeks volunteers interested in assisting the VP of Areas for 2025, with the goal of assuming the VP position after the November 2025 conference.
The duties of the VP of Areas include:
- Corresponding with area chairs
- Fielding requests for new areas and overseeing the process of adding, altering, and removing areas.
- Responding to presenter inquiries.
- Supporting and assisting ACs during the acceptance/rejection and session formation periods.
- Acting as a liaison between area chairs and Vice President of Conference during the scheduling period.
- Assisting with special events, especially those that require coordination with area chairs.
Interested applicants should download, complete, and submit the application and a 4-page CV to president@mapaca.net by March 28, 2025. In the email, please indicate that you are applying for this particular role. The chosen applicant will be notified at the end of April and expected to take on duties immediately.
Exciting updates coming soon!
Stay tuned! The MAPACA website and the newsletter are getting a refresh soon! Whether you’re presenting, attending, or just curious, you’ll want to keep an eye out for what’s next. We can’t wait to share what’s in store!
The 2025 MAPACA Annual Conference will be held November 6-8, 2025 at the Sonesta Philadelphia Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, PA. More details will follow in the coming months.
We will also have news about the MAPACA Summer Virtual Symposium soon!
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)
P.O. Box 1358
Lansdowne, PA 19050
To donate, please visit https://mapaca.net/donation