American Historical Association

 

Dear AHA Member,

Fortnightly News is the AHA's e-mail newsletter, sent out around the first and fifteenth of every month to keep members up to date with the AHA and the history profession.

In this issue:

1. Executive Director position – Applications Invited
2. Annual Meeting 2010 – Registration Opening Soon
3. Election of Officers
4. Decolonization Seminar – NHC now accepting applications
5. AHA Today – Recent history news
6. News from Washington – Updates from COSSA and NHA
7. Archival Reviews Wanted
8. Calendar – History Events
9. 125th Anniversary Fund

 

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to your friends and colleagues.

 

Applications Invited for the Position of AHA Executive Director

After ten years of service to the AHA, Arnita Jones will be retiring from her post as executive director effective September 1, 2010. She reflected on retirement and the pleasures of the post in a recent AHA Today article.

The AHA Council has already begun the search for a replacement, and posted the following announcement:

The American Historical Association invites applications for the post of executive director, the Association’s chief executive position, responsible to the elected AHA Council.

The executive director assists the Council in forming policy, oversees the work of all AHA divisions and committees, coordinates the Association’s collaboration with its affiliates and with other professional organizations, engages in advocacy for history and the humanities in conjunction with other professional organizations and works with Council to represent history before the general public. Day-to-day responsibilities include management of a substantial budget and an office with more than 20 employees. A PhD and/or experience as a historian are desirable, together with substantial experience in administering a complex organization. Fundraising experience and a willingness to engage in development efforts is desirable but not required.

The Council anticipates making an appointment for a term of five years, beginning September 1, 2010, renewable upon review. Salary, with full benefits, is competitive, consistent with qualifications. A detailed job description and other information are available upon request. Applicants should submit a c.v., a statement of their approach to the position and its challenges for the coming five years, and names (with titles and addresses) of three referees by October 15, 2009, to ahasearch@gmail.com.

The AHA is an EOE.

 

Annual Meeting 2010 – Registration & Housing Opening Soon

Registration and housing for the 124th Annual Meeting will open on Tuesday, September 15.

Members will find the link to registration on the main page after logging in through member services.  Registration is required to receive the deeply discounted housing rates for the meeting.  A link to housing will be provided on the registration confirmation page, included in the registration confirmation e-mail and located on the Registration Resource Center page.  For more information on the Annual Meeting, including registration and housing rates, see the AHA’s Annual Meeting Web page.

 

 

 

Annual Election of Officers

Ballots for the 2009 election have been sent to all members in good standing.

In responding to the ballot preference survey sent to the entire membership in August, if you indicated you wanted to vote by mail, ballots were mailed today, September 1; if you indicated you wanted to vote online, an e-mail will be sent today.

If you need assistance with the online voting process or to change your preference (from paper to online, or online to paper), contact the AHA’s Help Desk at 866-720-4357 (toll free) or e-mail: ahahelp@electionservicescorp.com.

Changes of address requests or non-election related questions should be forwarded to: http://www.historians.org/info/contact.cfm?u=members or call (202)-544-2422 (ext. 123).

Please return your completed ballot no later than 11:59 p.m. on November 1.

 

2010 Decolonization Seminar Applications Now Being Accepted

The National History Center is now accepting applications for the fifth international summer seminar on decolonization in the 20th century, which will be held for four weeks, from Sunday, July 11, through Saturday, August 14, 2010, in Washington, D.C.

The deadline is November 2, 2009.

 

AHA Today

Keep up with the latest information on history and the profession on the AHA’s blog, AHA Today. Recent posts include:

• Moving Ahead with Retirement
  After ten years of service to the AHA, Arnita Jones will be retiring from her post as executive director effective September 1, 2010. In this post she reflects on retirement and the pleasures of the job.

• New Prizes and Awards from the AHA
  The AHA recognizes a wide variety of distinguished historical work by awarding prizes, fellowships, and awards. Recently, two new awards have been established: The Raymond J. Cunningham Prize for the Best Article by an Undergraduate and Equity Awards that recognize efforts to secure and sustain diversity in the profession.

• Scribd: YouTube for Writers
  Scribd, a new “social publishing company,” aims to marry social networking with self-publishing.

• Podcasts from the Gilder Lehrman Institute
  Fans of history podcasts should check out the web site of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History for a list of podcasts on American history subjects by famous historians.

• Time to Dispense with the AHA Conference Interviews?
  In response to an article by Claire Potter, Robert B. Townsend discusses the pros and cons of the AHA’s Job Center at the Annual Meeting. Since this post went up a number of readers have commented and added to the discussion. Please share your thoughts with us as well.

• Cycling through History
  With the sunny days of summer upon us, it’s a good time to get out there on your ten-speed and experience history while perched atop two wheels.  Check out the following resources for ways to cycle through history.?Refby=FN

• Snapshots of the Past: The Commons on Flickr – Take 2
  Flickr has various areas to explore and themes to peruse, such as The Commons, where museums and other international historical institutions create digitized versions of their photographic collections (check out our original Flickr post for more details).

• Also, see the most recent What We’re Reading (August 6, August 20, and August 27) and Grant of the Week posts (University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Grants-in-Aid  and ACLS Fellowships)

 

News from Washington

In addition to AHA Today, the Association also draws on the efforts of a number of coalitions that support the Association's agenda to keep track of issues in the nation’s capital that will be of concern to historians. Here are news updates from some of them.

• COSSA

• The August 10, 2009 (PDF) COSSA Washington Update covered the following, and more:

  • FY 2010 Appropriations: House 12; Senate 4
  • Labor, HHS, Education Spending Bill for FY 2010 Emerges from Senate Appropriations Committee
  • Chicago Focus of Hearing on K-12 stem Education at House Science Subcommittee
  • Report and Briefing Focus on ‘Working Learners’
  • Iris F. Litt New Head of Center for Advanced Study at Stanford

 

• National Humanities Alliance

• National Humanities Alliance Welcomes Senate Confirmation of Jim Leach as NEH Chair

• Legislation to Expand International Ed & Foreign Language Programs Introduced

 

Archival Reviews Wanted

If you have spent some part of the summer in an archive anywhere in the world, we hope you'll report on your experiences at the facilities you visited. A few minutes of your time can assist many other scholars in their research endeavors. Please visit the ArchivesWiki to make your contribution today.

 

Calendar

The AHA’s online calendar lists upcoming meetings and seminars, research opportunities, awards and fellowships, internet resources, and exhibitions. Contribute your own announcement through this online form. Below we offer snippets of some of the current listings.

• Call for Papers: Theatricality and the Performative in the Long 19th-Century—19th-Century Studies Association 31st Annual Conference, University of Tampa, March 11-13, 2010.

• Call for Abstracts: American Association for the History of Medicine—The American Association for the History of Medicine (AAHM) invites submissions in any area of medical history for its 83rd annual meeting, to be held in Rochester, Minnesota, April 29 through May 2, 2010.

• Thomas K. McGraw Fellowship in U.S. Business History: This new fellowship will enable established scholars from around the world whose primary interest is the business and economic history of the United States to spend time in residence at Harvard Business School. Applications for the fellowship should arrive no later than September 15, 2009.

Read more about all of these events and more at the AHA’s online calendar.

 

125th Anniversary Fund

We have already received generous support from many members of the Association. If you have not yet contributed, and would like to aid in the expansion of the Association’s public programs and outreach efforts, we hope you will give your support to the AHA 125th Anniversary Fund.

You can contribute to the fund online at www.historians.org/give or by check to AHA Anniversary Fund, 400 A St. S.E., Washington, DC 20003.

 

Please feel free to forward this email on to a colleague or friend.

Contributions to this issue of Fortnightly News came from: Miriam Hauss Cunningham, Kelly Elmore, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Robert Townsend, and Sharon Tune

 

 

Last Updated: August 31, 2009