The South Central Modern Language Association was organized during
1940 as a result of the stimulus from the 1939 meeting of the Modern
Language Association at New Orleans. The SCMLA is an educational and
non-profit organization committed to promoting the scholarly interests
of its members. The first meeting of the SCMLA was held on November 1 and
2, 1940 at the invitation of Centenary College. Membership was 177 with
a program of 47 papers presented in 10 sessions, including English, French,
German, Spanish, Spanish-American and American Literature.
Today, the association, housed at the University of Oklahoma, boasts a
membership of around 1000 with an annual convention program of more than
400 papers presented in 105 Regular, Special, and Allied sessions. It is
one of the six regional Modern Language Associations in the United States
and is affiliated with the Modern Language
Association of America, headquartered in New York. Primarily, the SCMLA
represents professors at universities and colleges in the south central
region of the United States, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Oklahoma, Texas and the western portion of Tennessee. Members teach in
English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Comparative
Literature. In recent years SCMLA has increasingly attracted members from
all areas of the U.S.
In its commitment to the interests of its members, the SCMLA publishes
the award-winning quarterly, South Central Review, edited by Richard J.
Golsan. The association also produces a Summer and Winter Newsletter. Annual
convention, traditionally held around the end of October, is usually attended
by five hundred to seven hundred members. The program features topics in
all areas of language, literary, and cultural studies. In its desire to
reward and stimulate the research of its members, the SCMLA gives annually
through its own offices or through collaborative arrangements seven grants
to its members. The SCMLA's collaborative grants are with the Newberry
Library in Chicago, the Huntington Library in Los Angeles and with the
Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. Also, the SCMLA
gives the annual Kirby Award to the author who has published the best article
of the year in the South Central Review. The association also awards a
book prize for the best scholarly or critical book written by a member
of the SCMLA. Two prizes are awarded for submitted convention papers in
gender studies and historical literary studies.
In the last few years the SCMLA has enriched its annual convention by
inviting as plenary speakers some of the most prominent writers of the
time, including Carlos Fuentes, Tony Hillerman, Denise Chavez, and Ernest
Gaines. While the SCMLA is particularly devoted to the scholarship and
the intellectual vibrance of its membership, it is also concerned with
problems and issues which impact its membership. In this vein, the SCMLA
has strongly endorsed the ADE and ADFL guidelines for class size and work
load for college and university teachers of English and Foreign Languages.
The SCMLA vigorously supports the National Alliance for the Humanities
and other such associations which are committed to the promotion of the
Humanities in America.
