Prof. Susan S. Lanser (ENG) has been selected for the International Society for the Study of Narrative's four-year presidential cycle, according to a Nov. 13 BrandeisNOW press release. Lanser's appointment as second vice president is part of a four-year cycle in which she will become president of the association.

Lanser is the head of the Division of Humanities and a professor of English, Women's and Gender Studies and Comparative Literature at Brandeis.

According to its website, the ISSN "is a nonprofit association of scholars dedicated to the investigation of narrative, its elements, techniques, and forms; its relations to other modes of discourse; its power and influence in culture past and present."

According to the Nov. 13 press release, Lanser will begin her term immediately after the 2013 Modern Language Association convention and her first board meeting will take place in Manchester, England, this June.

"[The position] entails professional service on top of one's other responsibilities and scholarly projects, but it doesn't affect one's academic position," she wrote in an email to the Justice.

Lanser wrote that the presidency position of the ISSN will have no effect on her positions at Brandeis.

"This is an organization that I have a very deep commitment to because it crosses so many disciplines in its focus on narrative," Lanser said in a BrandeisNOW release. "The study of the narrative has been at the heart of my career from the beginning."

According to the ISSN, "narrative" encompasses categories that range from the novel to graphic arts to medical cases histories.

"Professor Lanser's election is an acknowledgement of the membership's respect and appreciation for her decades of work as a narratologist," said Emma Kafalenos, ISSN first vice president and director of undergraduate studies and senior lecturer in comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis, according to BrandeisNOW.

Kafalenos stated that Lanser's appointment is a great honor.

"She's been involved with our ongoing narrative theory panels for a number of years," Kafalenos continued. "Her work is very impressive."

According to BrandeisNOW, Lanser says she is looking forward to taking a role and shaping the next phase of the organization, which has an international focus. Officers come from Europe, Israel and Australia, and are not only part of the organization, but part of the leadership as well.

Lanser previously served on the executive board of the ISSN.

"My own work has been focused on narrative and narrative theory throughout my career," she noted. "I am particularly known for having pioneered in feminist approaches to narrative, but I work on narrative quite broadly and teach courses on both narrative and the novel."

"It is an honor to be elected to such a position and particularly to the presidency of the organization," Lanser wrote. "Narrative pervades our lives and our scholarly disciplines, and the ISSN encourages us to better understand this mode of human communication and expression."