Governance

The overall responsibility for the activities of the Association is held by the International Committee (IC). The International Committee selects a chairperson from among its members as well as an Executive Sub-Committee (EC) which is responsible for the conduct of IAUPE’s activities between conferences. For the purpose of organizing the conference, the IC appoints a President from among IAUPE members. The Association elects its Secretary-General (SG) and Treasurer (T)

Officers of the Association and Members of the International Committee, 2019-23

(* = Members of the Executive Committee)

President

  • Paul Giles, Sydney, Australia*

Past President

  • Liliana Sikorska, Poznan, Poland*

Secretary-General and Treasurer

  • Murray McGillivray, Calgary, Canada* (until February 2023)
  • Kathleen Harrington, Interim Secretary-General* (since February 2023)
  • Ingo Berensmeyer, Interim Treasurer* (since  February 2023)

Chair of the International Committee:

  • Danuta Fjellestad, Uppsala, Sweden*

Members of the International Committee elected in 2016:

  • Robert DeMaria, Vassar (USA)
  • Danuta Fjellestad, Uppsala (Sweden)*
  • Kathleen Harrington, US Air Force Academy (USA)*
  • Yangsoon Kim, Korea University (Korea)*
  • Igor Maver, Ljubljana (Slovenia)
  • Chantal Zabus, Paris XIII (France)

Members of the International Committee elected in 2019:

  • Ingo Berensmeyer, Munich (Germany)*
  • Katharina Böhm, Regensburg (Germany)
  • Regenia Gagnier, Exeter (UK)
  • Grace Ioppolo, Reading (UK)
  • Takami Matsuda, Keio (Japan)
  • Lawrence Warner, King’s College (UK)
  • Murray McGillivray, Calgary (Canada)* (until February 2923) 

* Last updated  March 2023. *

Presidents of the Association

  • 1950-51: C. L. Wrenn (Oxford)
  • 1951-53: A. H. Koszul (Paris)
  • 1953-56: E. M. W. Tillyard (Cambridge)
  • 1956-59: G. Bonnard (Lausanne)
  • 1959-62: W. L. Renwick (Edinburgh)
  • 1962-65: M. Praz (Rome/Venice)
  • 1965-68: J. J. Hogan (Dublin)
  • 1968-71: A. V. Turhan (Istanbul)
  • 1971-74: W. Matthews (UCLA)
  • 1974-77: J. Fisiak (Poznan)
  • 1977-80: A. Rutherford (Aberdeen)
  • 1980-83: R. Haas (Hamburg)
  • 1983-86: J. Berthoud and D. Pearsall (York)
  • 1986-89: I. J. Kirby (Lausanne)
  • 1989-92: E. Orsten (Trent)
  • 1992-95: A. Zettersten (Copenhagen)
  • 1995-98: J. R. Watson (Durham)
  • 1998-2001: W. Viereck (Bamberg)
  • 2001-04: P. Stanwood (Vancouver)
  • 2004-07: M. Thormählen (Lund)
  • 2007-10: P. Vassallo (Malta)
  • 2010-13: Li Cao (Tsinghua) and Li Jin (Beijing)
  • 2013-16: Jane Roberts (University of London)
  • 2016-19: Liliana Sikorska (Poznan)
  • 2019-2023: Paul Giles (Sydney)

Secretaries-General / Treasurers of the Association

  • 1959-71: P. H. Butter (SG&T)
  • 1971-95: J. J. Lawlor (SG&T)
  • 1995-2013: I. J. Kirby (SG&T)
  • 2013-2019: Thomas Austenfeld (SG&T)
  • 2019-2023: Murray McGillivray (SG&T)
  • 2023 (Interim) Kathleen Harrington (SG)
  • 2023 (Interim) Ingo Berensmeyer (T)

Honorary Members of the Association

At the discretion of the International Committee, members who have made an outstanding contribution to IAUPE may be offered Honorary Membership in the Association.

  • R. W. Zandvoort
  • Simonne d’Ardenne
  • J. J. Lawlor

History of the Association

In 1948 the editors of English Studies, Professors R. W. Zandvoort (Groningen), Simonne d’Ardenne (Liège), Olof Arngart (Lund), C. A. Bodelsen (Copenhagen), Lorentz Eckhoff (Oslo), and Henry Lüdeke (Basle), together with Professors Kemp Malone (Baltimore), Mario Praz (Rome), Bohumil Trnka (Prague), and Fernand Mossé (Paris), addressed to professors of English in British universities a request to convene an international congress of English Studies.

A conference of British professors of English, to which Professors d’Ardenne and Zandvoort were invited, was held in Edinburgh at Easter 1949. It was then decided to convene an international conference at Oxford in August 1950.