Georgia Philological Association

The Georgia Philological Association is an independent organization and does not represent Middle Georgia State University in any way.

 

A Short History of the Georgia Philological Association

After conducting research that determined that the state of Georgia could not lay claim to the existence of a philological organization, the Arts and Letters faculty at Brewton-Parker College, a private, four-year institution in Mount Vernon, Montgomery County, met to organize the Georgia Philological Association (GPA) in October 2005. The officers of the Philological Association of the Carolinas (PAC), then headquartered at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina, granted the fledgling group permission to use its constitution as a template upon which to build their own.

At the inaugural meeting, representatives from such fields as English, communication, modern languages, fine arts, history, political science, and religion ratified the GPA constitution and elected officers. With Ruth Ellen Porter, Arts and Letters division chair, presiding, Harry Bayne (English), Vicki Hill (English), and Lee Cheek (Political Science) were nominated and elected by acclamation as GPA's first president, vice president, and secretary-treasurer, respectively. Dr. Porter named Thom Brucie (English) as editor of the GPA's journal; Dr. Brucie subsequently tapped George Mosley (English) to serve as managing editor.

Those participating in the founding made clear their desire to see the word "philology" interpreted broadly in order to encourage the involvement of academics and laity from across the broad spectrum of the liberal arts. At each of the annual meetings, those attending have heard presentations on such subjects as business communication, music, film, history, psychology, mathematics, languages, technology, art, mythology, religion, political theory, pedagogy, literature, popular culture, drama, sociology, linguistics, journalism, architecture, philosophy, biography, and photography. Also from its beginning, GPA has included among its presenters college faculty, independent scholars, retired educators, professional writers, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The Constitution of the Georgia Philological Association

Journal of the Georgia Philological Association

JGPA is a blind peer reviewed journal currently published on an annual basis. Special consideration is given to expanded/revised versions of papers presented at the annual meeting held in the spring of each year, but submissions from non-presenters are also welcome. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically as Word documents and all editorial correspondence sent to the following address:

    Dr. Nate Gilbert, Editor-in-Chief
    The Journal of the Georgia Philological Association
    jgpasubmissions@gmail.com

Manuscripts should run no more than 8000 words and should conform to the latest MLA (9th ed., 2021) style guidelines. Use parenthetical references and a list of Works Cited; avoid discursive footnotes, and keep commentary and bibliographic endnotes, if necessary, to a minimum. Submission of a manuscript indicates that it is not being considered nor has been published elsewhere. Manuscripts should also be free of internal reference to the author’s identity; the writer’s name should appear only on the cover letter, and other references should be removed before manuscripts are screened by the editors. Manuscripts judged by the editors to be appropriate for the journal are then submitted for blind review by external readers and/or members of the Editorial Board. The editor-in-chief maintains responsibility for final selection. Ordinarily, decisions will be made within three months of submission. Please follow the guidelines provided below:

  • Follow the 9th edition (2021) of the MLA Handbook.
  • Submit manuscripts as Microsoft Word documents.
  • Some formatting issues arise when a document is written on Macintosh computers. Correct such issues before submission. (Manuscripts may be returned if the formatting is incorrect.)
  • Single space after periods.
  • Please avoid copious notes. If you wish to use notes, follow this formatting:
    • Use manually typed superscripts in your text to demarcate the placement of each note. (Do NOT use Microsoft Word's automatic endnote function.)
    • Put notes on a separate page titled "Notes" at the end of your document, preceding the page of Works Cited, that also uses manually typed superscript numbers.
    • Single space all notes, with the first line indented by 0.3", in Times New Roman 10-point font. See previous issues for reference.

Authors wishing to have their articles published in the JGPA should consult guidelines provided by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ). Under the category, “Author Support,” on the CELJ's website, see the CELJ's “Guidelines for Contributors” at http://www.celj.org/projects.

Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) Guidelines for Contributors

Submission Deadline: December 31

JGPA is indexed in the MLA International Bibliography and EBSCOhost Research Databases.

Membership in the GPA

Membership in GPA is open to College/University faculty (full-time or part-time), College/University students (graduate or undergraduate), independent scholars, and retired faculty with membership fees varying from $15 to $25 by category. Membership fees fund the operating expenses of the association as well as the publication of the Journal of the Georgia Philological Association. Click the following to download the membership form: 

Membership Application (NOT REQUIRED FOR THE 2024 CONFERENCE)

Current CFP

Check back later for the Call for Papers for the upcoming conference.

Conference Schedule

Check back later for the conference schedule.

Contacting GPA

Executive Committee Members

President – Dr. Lorraine Dubuisson, lorraine.dubuisson@mga.edu
Vice-President – vacant
Clerk – Matthew Brittingham, m.h.brittingham@emory.edu 
Treasurer – Rhonda Crombie, rhonda.crombie@mga.edu
Member-at-Large – Mike Luzzi, mluzzi@ega.edu
Member-at-Large – Val Czerny, vczerny@ega.edu
Member-at-Large – Dr. Jim Anderson, jandersonjwu@gmail.com 
JGPA Editor – Dr. Nate Gilbert, nathanael.gilbert@mga.edu
JGPA Co-Editor – Dr. David Buehrer, dbuehrer@valdosta.edu
JGPA Co-Editor – Dr. Lorraine Dubuisson, lorraine.dubuisson@mga.edu