[KB] Announcing the KBS Triennial postponement

[Wess, Robert Victor]

Great decision.


________________________________________
From: KB [kb-bounces at kbjournal.org] on behalf of Bryan Crable [bryan.crable at villanova.edu]
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 1:36 PM
To: kb at kbjournal.org
Subject: [KB] Announcing the KBS Triennial postponement

Dear fellow Burkeans,

I hope that this message finds you and yours well, safe, and calm (or as calm as possible, under the circumstances).

On behalf of the Kenneth Burke Society Executive Board, and the 2020 KBS Triennial conference planners, I wanted to let you know that we have just made the difficult decision to postpone the Triennial until Summer 2021.

We remain optimistic that the pandemic’s spread will have ended (or dramatically slowed) by this July. However, travel and visa challenges will likely remain, especially affecting our international participants. Our decision to postpone also preserves our contractual arrangements, allowing us to be good stewards of the Society's finances and a valued partner for the University of Maryland at College Park. Most important, the postponement allows us and the KB community at large to prioritize the well-being of our families, our students, and ourselves. We will regroup for Summer 2021, to present the robust program and scholarly retreat that you deserve.

For those who submitted their proposals for this year, eagerly looking forward to our time together, we will retain your proposal in our files and return to it at the new proposal deadline of January 2021. There is no need to resubmit, though of course you may edit your proposal between now and then.

We are currently working on plans for some small—virtual!—Burkean conversations for this summer, and we will be back in touch once those are finalized.

We also want to thank Damien Pfister at the University of Maryland for his tireless work on the 2020, his willingness to lead the planning for the Triennial in the first place—and for his willingness to host a year later than expected.

In the meantime, take care of yourselves and others, and we will look forward to seeing you all in Summer 2021, if not before!

Sincerely,

Bryan Crable, KBS President


--
Bryan Crable, Ph.D.
Professor of Communication/Rhetorical Studies
Affiliated faculty, Africana Studies
Director, Waterhouse Family Institute for the Study of Communication and Society<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwfi.villanova.edu&data=02%7C01%7Cbryan.crable%40villanova.edu%7C5ae6325d44fd41a2339108d70568c8d9%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C0%7C636983819924216690&sdata=sV24XtZhWlirdA5w1KF5Vqlr4KoODstO9Bueb0u7HPQ%3D&reserved=0>
Author, Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke: At the Roots of the Racial Divide<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.upress.virginia.edu%2Ftitle%2F4179&data=02%7C01%7Cbryan.crable%40villanova.edu%7C5ae6325d44fd41a2339108d70568c8d9%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C0%7C636983819924226683&sdata=2aY1eKuI1%2FOv0NlOLHhQ2blbskfBuXv6h5e97iloMtE%3D&reserved=0> (University of Virginia Press, 2012)
Editor, Transcendence by Perspective: Meditations on and with Kenneth Burke<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parlorpress.com%2Ftranscendence&data=02%7C01%7Cbryan.crable%40villanova.edu%7C5ae6325d44fd41a2339108d70568c8d9%7C765a8de5cf9444f09cafae5bf8cfa366%7C0%7C0%7C636983819924226683&sdata=2ZxRF9cTx3SdLTTPNuoPOFYwkIHRJhlFFqwu3CryPRk%3D&reserved=0> (Parlor Press, 2014)

Department of Communication
Villanova University
800 Lancaster Ave.
Villanova, PA  19085-1699 USA
+1 610-519-4751 (tel)
bryan.crable at villanova.edu<mailto:bryan.crable at villanova.edu>