December 19, 2011
AHA news and updates for the history profession.
- Preregistration Deadline - Today!
- Hotels
- Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award
- Jobs for Historians – New Session
- Committee on Women Historians Brainstorming Session
- Job Center
- Chicago – WiFi, Restaurants, and Attractions
- Highlighted Sessions
- U.S. History Quiz
- AHA Today – Recent history news
- News from Washington–NCH, NHA, and COSSA
Holiday Schedule
The AHA headquarters office will be closed from December 31 to January 9, as staff travel to and begin their work on the annual meeting. Aside from security at the offices, the rest of the staff will be out and will be able to check e-mail and phone messages only intermittently. If you do not hear back from us during the meeting, we will reply as soon as possible after we return.
Preregistration Deadline
Today, December 19, is the last day to register for the 126th annual meeting in Chicago at the lower preregistration rates: $162 member, $212 nonmember, $75 student member, $115 student nonmember, $78 retired/unemployed, $39 pre-collegiate teacher. Beginning tomorrow, all rates increase. Today is also the last day for Teacher-Student groups to register.
Hotels
Hotel rooms at the Sheraton have sold out, but the other annual meeting hotels have extended their deadlines for AHA annual meeting room rates. Limited rooms are available, so after registering for the annual meeting, be sure to make your reservations soon (a housing link is included in your registration confirmation email).
Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award
The presentation of the eighth Theodore Roosevelt-Woodrow Wilson Public Service Award will take place at the General Meeting on Friday, January 6th, beginning at 8:30 p.m. in the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Chicago Ballroom VI.
Judge Diane P. Wood will accept the award on behalf of the recipient, Sandra Day O'Connor, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States (retired).
Please note, the Roosevelt-Wilson award was originally scheduled to be presented on Thursday, January 5, and appears that way in the print Program. The Plenary Session on Thursday, January 5 will begin at 8:00 p.m.
Jobs for Historians – New Session
A new session, Jobs for Historians: Approaching the Crisis from the Demand Side, has been added to the annual meeting, to take place Friday, January 6 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Sheraton's Chicago Ballroom VII.
Anthony Grafton is chair of the session, while Jesse Lemisch (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY), Edward Balleisen (Duke University), John Dichtl (National Council on Public History), and Lynn Hunt (UCLA) make up the panel.
Committee on Women Historians Brainstorming Session
The Committee on Women Historians invites all interested annual meeting attendees to a brainstorming session on the mission of the committee from 9:00–10:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 7 in the Sheraton's Sheraton Ballroom V. Registration for the women's breakfast is not required. Learn more here.
Job Center
Are you a member of a search committee interviewing in a privately arranged suite? Please help your candidates by letting the Job Center know your location once you arrive in Chicago. Send an e-mail to ltownsend@historians.org; text or call Liz Townsend at (571) 730-8518; or come to the Job Center Information Booth in the Chicago Marriott's Grand Ballroom, Salon 1. You may also give the information to staff members at the Information Desk near Registration in the Sheraton and they will let us know. All we need is your institution name, field of the position, interview days, and hotel and room number. Please welcome your new colleagues into the history profession by doing all you can to make the process as smooth and painless as possible.
The 2012 Job Center Handout is now available on our website here (PDF). This document includes a review of how the Job Center works, plus a list of all the job searches taking place in Chicago that have been reported to the AHA. The Handout will be updated frequently until the meeting begins.
For more information, visit the Job Center page online.
Chicago – Restaurants & Attractions
Over the past few weeks the AHA blog and website have featured a number of articles and resources to make your trip to Chicago an enjoyable one, we round them up here:
Free Wi-Fi
Need access to the Internet at the upcoming 126th annual meeting? You'll have a number of options to choose from in the hotels and in a number of restaurants and coffee shops nearby. Check out our map and blog post to learn more.Restaurants in Chicago
Looking for places to eat close to the hotels? Want to enjoy a slice of Chicago pizza? Need to find a great spot for vegetarians? No matter what you're hungry for, this list of restaurants in Chicago has just what you're looking for.Visiting Chicago with Children
A comprehensive list of sites and activities for children in Chicago, including the Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium, The Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and more.Chicago Tours
Sign up for a tour organized by the Local Arrangements Committee, or go out and explore Chicago through one of these city tours.
Highlighted Sessions
Sessions at the American Historical Association’s annual meetings cover nearly every time period, region, and theme that historians study. To better illustrate this we’ve created an interactive map, featured in the blog post “Around the World at the 126th Annual Meeting” showing scholarship that spans the globe.
The AHA blog featured a “Session of the Week” each week in advance of the 126th annual meeting. Most recently we’ve highlighted:
Institute for Constitutional History – Upcoming Seminars
The Institute for Constitutional History (ICH), the nation's premier center dedicated to the exploration of the historical development of the U.S. constitution, invites applications—to be submitted by January 15, 2012—from advanced graduate students and early-career faculty who are interested in taking part in two Robert H. Smith seminars that the institute is organizing in spring 2012. There will be no tuition or other fees for participation in the seminars (although books and other necessary study material will have to be acquired by the participants themselves). Learn more about the two seminars below.
The Revolutionary Origins of American Constitutionalism
Date: February 17 and 24, March 2, 9, 16 and 23 (2012)
Location: New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York City
Instructors: Pauline Maier and R.B. Bernstein
This seminar will explore the origins of American constitutionalism and law in the Anglo-American past and the arguments and achievements of the revolutionary period (roughly 1764-1789). Its six sessions will examine the ideology and organizational forms of the resistance to Britain, look closely at the first state constitutions (the world's first written constitutions) and the issues they raised and to some extent resolved, then turn to the Articles of Confederation, the Federal Convention, the Constitution, state ratification debates, and the contributions of the First Federal Congress in fleshing out the new constitutional system.
Apply: Graduate students and junior faculty may apply for this seminar by sending a copy of their c.v. and a short statement on how this seminar will be useful to them in their research, teaching, or professional development to MMarcus@nyhistory.org.
Applications Due: January 15, 2012
Equal Justice Under Law: The Enduring Legacy of the Warren Court, 1953-1969
Date: February 9 and 23, March 1, 8, 22 and 29 (2012)
Location: George Washington University Law School, Burns Hall, Room 415, 2000 H Street NW, Washington, DC
Instructor: Stephen Wermiel
This seminar will examine the Warren Court of the 1950s and 1960s, stressing politics, doctrine, and the strong judicial personalities of the period. Topics covered will include the Court's transformative role in civil rights and civil liberties, the rights of the accused, the electoral process and access to the courts. The seminar will explore both the politics of the Warren Court and the Warren Court's impact on the politics of the nation.
Apply: Graduate students and junior faculty may apply for this seminar by sending a copy of their c.v. and a short statement on how this seminar will be useful to them in their research, teaching, or professional development to MMarcus@nyhistory.org.
Applications Due: January 15, 2012
See the AHA Calendar for more upcoming meetings and seminars, research, awards and fellowships, and upcoming exhibitions. Have a call for proposals, event, or award listing you'd like to submit? Simply send it in through our online form.
Call for Papers, Panels & Posters: W.E.B. Du Bois 50th Anniversary Commemorative Conference
Clark Atlanta University (CAU) celebrates the life and scholarship of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois with a four-day conference in 2013, the 50th year since his death. Beginning January 1, 2012 and continuing through July 1, 2012 organizers of the conference will be accepting proposals for papers, panels, and posters to be included in the conference. Send proposals to Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans at sevans@cau.edu. The conference will take place February 20-23, 2013.
Learn more.Prize: Fishel-Calhoun Prize
The Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era announces its biennial competition for the Fishel-Calhoun Prize for the best article on any aspect of United States history between 1865 and 1917 published in 2010 or 2011. The prize is open to graduate students or PhDs who received their doctorate since 2002 and have not yet published a book. Deadline: December 15, 2011. Submit three off-prints, photocopies, or a PDF of the article, a copy of the table of contents of the issue in which it appeared, and the author's current email address. Send entries to David I. Macleod, Chair, Fishel-Calhoun Prize Committee, Department of History, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859. Email: macle1d@cmich.edu.
Learn more.
Jobs — Most Recent
Here are just a few of the most recently posted Job Ads from the AHA's website. Sign in to the AHA web site to learn more about these positions as well as around 200 other posted jobs.
Professor in Maritime/Global History - University of Macau
The Department of History of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH) invites applications for the position of full/associate/assistant professor in maritime history and global history, any area or period, but preference will be given to candidates focusing on Asia or East-West interactions.Assistant Professor Ancient/Medieval England - Missouri Western State University
Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, MO seeks a tenure-track assistant professor to teach 12 credit hours per semester beginning August 2012; areas of expertise must include ancient history, medieval civilization, and English history; additional desirable fields include non-Western civilization or the British Empire.Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities - University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences is once again offering up to eight postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities and social sciences for the academic year 2012-13. Fellows will teach one course each semester, complete scholarly work, and participate in the academic and intellectual communities of the departments with which they are affiliated and across the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.
U.S. History Quiz
The AHA is working with American Profile magazine, a Sunday newspaper supplement, to publish a feature on U.S. history for Independence Day 2012. It will be a history quiz of twenty-five multiple-choice questions and answers.
We are still looking for submissions of clear, interesting questions that will reflect the rigorous standards of our organization to the public. Our goal is to offer to a broad audience something that is fun and that might enhance an appreciation for history and historical thinking in public culture.The questions can be about any period in American history.
Suggest quiz questions here. Many thanks for your assistance! Please provide us with up to 10 suggestions.
Keep up with the latest information on history and the profession on the AHA’s blog, AHA Today. Recent posts include:
AHA Members Included in Choice’s ”Outstanding Academic Titles, 2011”
Congratulations to AHA members Thomas C. Holt, Louis Hyman, Samuel Moyn, Pauline Maier, and Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, whose books have been included in Choice’s selection of the top 25 "Outstanding Academic Titles, 2011.”From the Archives Wiki: Secret Coffee Spots of Rome
Learn about tips you can find in the AHA's Archives Wiki, like secret coffee spots in Rome. Contribute your own insights as well.Bus Fares to Chicago
If you live near Chicago and aren’t traveling to the 126th annual meeting by plane, train, or personal automobile, you may be interested in these inexpensive bus deals to get you to the meeting.What We’re Reading
The December 15 edition of What We’re Reading included links former AHA President Barbara Metcalf's invitation to Newt Gingrich to join the AHA, what it’s like to be an intern at the National Museum of American History, and more. For the December 8 edition, historians debated Newt Gingrich’s history background and we looked back at the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor through archival records and oral histories.Grant of the Week
Some of our most recent Grant of the Week posts include John Carter Brown Library Fellowships and Linda Hall Library Resident Fellowships.
The AHA 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. Their most recent reports include:
National Coalition for History
Recent news from the National Coalition for History:
Fiscal Year '12 Funding Bill Ready for House and Senate Action
Of major interest to the historical community, the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year (FY) 2012 has terminated the Teaching American History Grants program at the U.S. Department of Education, while the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) was saved from virtual elimination.
National Humanities Alliance
Announcements from the National Humanities Alliance:
FY 2012 Appropriations Update
Government Operations Extended thru December 16th.
Consortium of Social Science Associations
Read COSSA's most recent Washington Update for news on spending bills, Senate hearings, education and more.
Please feel free to forward this email on to a colleague or friend.
Last Updated: December 16, 2011
