Conferences
All of our graduate students are strongly encouraged to gain professional experience by participating in local, national and international conferences. To assist graduate students in attending conferences, the department provides airfare support for students who give papers; each student is automatically eligible for such support twice in his or her graduate career. The Medieval Academy of America publishes a regularly-updated list of specialized and general conferences of interest to medievalists, as well as hosting its own annual conference each spring.
One of the great benefits of studying medieval history in the Chicago area is the ease with which students can attend the International Congress on Medieval Studies, hosted annually by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, the first full weekend in May. Graduate students in all fields of medieval studies are welcome to attend and often present papers. The Medieval Studies Workshop at the University of Chicago annually sponsors as many as four sessions at the International Congress. Calls for papers are posted every summer; submission deadline is September 15.
In addition to the International Congress, medievalist graduate students at Chicago regularly present papers at the annual meetings of the Midwest Medieval History Conference (in October), the Illinois Medieval Association (in February), and the Byzantine Studies Conference (in October). Medievalist graduate students are invited to participate in the Newberry Library's annual Graduate Student Conference sponsored by the Center for Renaissance Studies. In recent years, medieval history graduate students at Chicago have also taken the lead in organizing specialist conferences under the auspices of the Medieval Studies Workshop.