A Brief History of the LCMND 's Structure

Linguistic Circle (LCMND) started out in 1959 as a joint initiative by faculty members of the University of Manitoba (UM, Winnipeg, Man.) and the University of North Dakota (UND, Grand Forks, ND). It was intended to provide a cross-border forum for scholarly exchange , and has been highly successful in realizing its aim by organizing yearly conferences both north & south of the United States/Canadian border for nearly fifty years .

Apart from the two Manitoba & North Dakota founding universities -- the UM and the UND -- further administrative and financial support was provided in the 1980s when the University of Winnipeg (UW, in 1980), North Dakota State University (NDSU, Fargo, ND, in 1985), and Minot State University (MSU, Minot, ND, in 1988) joined the Circle as Institutional Members.

Since then, the yearly meetings have been convened Winnipeg, Grand Forks, Fargo, and Minot on a rotating basis. Secretary/Treasurers are always located in Winnipeg where every other year either the University of Manitoba or the University of Winnipeg are hosting the LCMND Conference, and where the Circle's bank account resides.

Executive Members are recruited from the three North Dakota at the level of Vice-President. The following year, they are President, & host the Annual Conference in their home town. With the status of Past President for yet another year, they complete their three-year long tenure on the LCMND Executive.

All officers elected from the two Winnipeg institutions serve for five years, due to a two-year term as the Circle's Secretary/Treasurer. This term allows for any given Secretary/Treasurer to gain experience by working closely with the current LCMND President, who represents the other Winnipeg university, and who transmits his or her knowledge of procedures concerning the "Call for Papers", membership dues, organizing the actual conference location, making arrangements for the Banquet, preparing an agenda for the annual business meeting, and, most importantly, keeping the Circle's accounts in both US & Canadian currencies in good order. Manitoba members of the executive therefore don't accede to the presidency before having served for three years, and they complete their tenure with the Past-Presidency after five years.

This complex rotating system means that the conference locations are determined for several years in advance. For instance, the 2001 Conference was held at the NDSU in Fargo, the 2002 Conference was hosted in Winnipeg by the University of Winnipeg (UW); the 2003 Conference was held in Grand Forks at the UND, the 2004 Conference, again in Winnipeg, but at the UM.
Then the 2005 Conference was convened at Minot State University, where it had been held only once before, in 1995.
The 2006 conference was hosted by the UW, while the Circle's FIFTIETH Conference was celebrated at the NDSU's excellent meeting facilities in Fargo.
It is the UM's turn again to host the 2008 Conference in Winnipeg, and then in 2009, the 50th Anniversary Conference will appropriately be hosted by the other Founding Institution, the UND in Grand Forks.