October 17, 2011
AHA news and updates for the history profession.
- National History Center News
- AHA Today – Recent history news
- News from Washington– NCH, NHA, and COSSA
- Calendar
Oral History and Information Risk: A Response to the Federal Proposal
By Robert B. Townsend
As we’ve recently noted on AHA Today, the federal government is offering a significant opportunity to weigh in on rules that cover institutional review boards (IRBs) and often interfere with legitimate history work. The current proposal seems to be a very mixed bag for history—offering both a tantalizing opportunity to address past concerns about the effect IRBs have on oral history and potentially new problems for history under the label of “information risk.”
Over the past month, we have been consulting extensively with members of the discipline, trying to identify a set of core principles for a response to the proposal. After careful deliberation, we offer the following “talking points” that will guide our response. We do this to invite comments and concerns from members as we craft our response, and as a guide to historians and related specialists looking to craft their own response to the federal proposal.
New Directory Now Available
The 37th edition of the Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians, with information on almost 800 history departments and historical organizations, is now available.
AHA members may now also access the online version of the Directoryby signing in to member services. Individual print copies of the Directory are available for purchase in our Publications Shop.
Departments that already have paid their fee for listing in the Directory should receive their print copy in the mail in the next 2–3 weeks. If your department does not receive its copy, please contact the Membership office to make sure payment has been received.
Job Ads
Here are just a few of the most recently posted Job Ads from the AHA's website. Log in to learn more about these ads, as well as to access many more.
NYU, Brazilian Studies
The Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University seek an innovative scholar of Brazilian studies for a full-time, tenure-track assistant professor position.Wisconsin–Madison, Postdoctoral Fellowship/Modern European Jewish
The Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison announces the Frances and Laurence Weinstein postdoctoral fellowship to pursue research in modern European Jewish history and to teach two courses per academic year.Christendom, Early Modern Continental
Christendom College seeks a full-time assistant professor in history. The successful candidate will teach a 4/4 load of courses including a Western civilization survey, historiography, and classes in his field of expertise.
Job Center
Are you on a search committee planning to interview at the annual meeting? Will you be arranging a private suite or using the Job Center facilities? Please log on to the Job Center page to find all the information and reservation forms you'll need for a successful meeting.
The Job Center offers:
Free tables
Rooms that can be reserved for $80 for a half-day or $140 for a full day (prepayment will be required this year)
An information center that will help your candidates find your interview location, even if it's in a privately arranged suite
The initial deadline for reservations is November 15, 2011. Questions? Contact Liz Townsend.
Child Care Grants for the 126th Annual Meeting
The AHA is offering 10 child care grants of up to $200 to assist AHA members who are bringing children to the meeting. The grants are intended to help offset the cost of child care, enabling attendees with dependent children to attend the meeting. Eligibility extends to history graduate students, adjuncts, and early-career historians (within five years of the earned degree), with priority to those who are on the program and/or who are interviewing at the meeting. The deadline for applications is November 1, 2011.
Sessions for Graduate Students & Early Career Professionals
Not only does the Program of the annual meeting contain sessions and events to match a wide range of interests, it also has sessions that may be especially interesting to graduate students and early career professionals. Check out this complete list of these sessions. It includes the Get the Most out of the Annual Meeting, an orientation session for first-time participants in the annual meeting; The Digital History Seminar, featuring four graduate students' perspectives on digital tools and techniques; A Winner's Guide to Graduate and Postdoctoral Grant and Fellowship Competitions; and Professional Development: Turning Your Dissertation into a Book, and more.
5 Tips for Students Attending the 126th AHA Annual Meeting
A recent blog post on AHA Today, offered five ways that students attending the 126th annual meeting can save money, find sessions, socialize, and have a fulfilling trip.
National History Center News
Legacies of the Berlin Wall and the History of Statelessness at WHS
The Washington History Seminar welcomes two leading women scholars in coming weeks. Today, October 17, Hope M. Harrison of George Washington University will explore renewed interest in the history of the Berlin Wall and the fault lines it has uncovered in German life. On October 24, former AHA President Linda K. Kerber of the University of Iowa will discuss the history of statelessness in 20th century America in light of recent moves to limit birthright citizenship in the U.S., as well as efforts to address the plight of stateless people living on the India-Bangladesh border.
Decolonization Seminar Application Deadline Looms
The deadline for applying to the National History Center's seventh International Seminar on Decolonization is November 1. The seminar will take place from July 8 through August 4, 2012 in Washington, DC. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and hosted by the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, the seminar each summer welcomes 15 historians at the beginning of their careers for a month of research, discussion, and writing. Questions about the seminar and about the application process may be directed to the Center's associate director, Marian J. Barber, at mbarber@historians.org.
AHA Today
Keep up with the latest information on history and the profession on the AHA’s blog, AHA Today. Recent posts include:
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New AHA Member Benefits
The AHA recently added two new benefits for members: access to Choice Reviews Online, featuring book reviews in history and related fields, and to the AHA's annual Directory of History Departments, Historical Organizations, and Historians. -
What We're Reading
The October 13 edition of What We're Reading includes articles on "No More Plan B" responses, Occupy Wall Street & protest history, Steve Jobs archive, and more. For the October 6 edition, we linked information on revised Virginia history textbooks, stolen National Archives items, and a selection of lesson plans. -
Grant of the Week
Our most recent Grant of the Week posts include Swann Foundation Fellowships for Caricature & Cartoon Research and the Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship.
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.
National Coalition for History
Urgent Action Needed Today To Preserve History Education Funding!
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FY'12 Budget Update for Teaching American History Grants & NHPRC
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Seeks Proposals for Residential Fellowships - Application deadline for 2012-2013 is December 1
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American Musicological Society & Library of Congress to Host Public Lecture-Recital September 10 event to discuss "What the Autograph Can Tell Us: Beethoven's Sonata in E Major, Opus 109"
Consortium of Social Science Associations
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Read COSSA's most recent Washington Update for news on spending bills, Senate hearings, education and more.
Calendar
The following items may be of interest to members. See the AHA Calendar for more upcoming meetings and seminars, research, awards and fellowships, internet resources, 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.
Conference: Ethnohistory 2011 Meeting
The annual meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory will take place October 19-22, 2011 in Westin Pasadena, California.
Learn more.Fellowship: 2012 Rome Prize Competition
The American Academy in Rome invites applications for the Rome Prize competition. The Academy offers up to thirty fellowships for periods ranging from six months to two years. Fellowships are awarded in the following fields: Architecture, Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Landscape Architecture, Literature, Musical Composition, Visual Arts, Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, and Modern Italian Studies.
Learn more.
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Last Updated: October 14, 2011
