Author Description

This issue of Profession contains Sidonie Smith’s introduction to her Presidential Forum (held at the 2011 MLA convention) and the essays of forum participants Hillary Chute, Marianne Hirsch, Leigh Gilmore, Craig Howes, Françoise Lionnet, Nancy K. Miller, David Palumbo-Liu, Brian Rotman, Leo Spitzer, Robert Warrior, and Gillian L. Whitlock. The issue also features a section on evaluating digital scholarship. Introduced by Susan Schreibman, Laura Mandell, and Stephen Olsen, the section includes essays by Steve Anderson, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Jerome McGann, Tara McPherson, Bethany Nowviskie, and Geoffrey Rockwell. The issue’s other essays are by Reed Way Dasenbrock, Gillian Gane, Laurie Grobman, Joyce Kinkead, David Porter, and Richard Yarborough. The issue concludes with two sets of MLA guidelinesâ€"on professional employment practices for non-tenure-track faculty members and on evaluating translations as scholarshipâ€"and a listing of reports, surveys, statements, and other resources recently added to the MLA Web site.