2023 AHA Election: Council
Voting begins June 1 and extends until July 15. Watch your email for your personalized link to the ballot. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact ltownsend@historians.org.
View Candidates for Committee on Committees and Nominating Committee
President
The president-elect stands unopposed for election to president. The current president is Edward W. Muir Jr., Northwestern Univ. (Clarence L. Ver Steeg Professor; medieval and early modern Europe, religion, urban, legal and criminal).
Thavolia Glymph
Duke University (Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History and Professor of Law; slavery, emancipation, plantation societies and economies, gender, women)
Candidate Statement
I am the Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History and professor of law at Duke University. My work primarily explores 19th-century US history focusing on the history of slavery and plantation societies, emancipation, gender, women’s history, economic history, and the Civil War. I have served on the Nominating Committee and the Program Committee of the AHA and in many other professional capacities to include president of the Southern Historical Association, editorial and advisory boards, committees in other professional organizations, and university leadership positions.
These experiences have provided opportunities to work collaboratively with scholars across a wide range of fields and scholarly interests and with that, a breadth of insight essential to performing the work of the president of the AHA. I would strive to maintain and promote the organization’s important advocacy work and its many other programs and initiatives that support and defend the work of scholars across fields, institutions, and employment circumstances and bring greater awareness to the work of historians. A central objective for me is working to help ensure that future generations understand what I learned at an early age—that history matters. Growing up in the US South, I developed a passionate interest in history long before I knew that organizations like the AHA existed. I received my undergraduate degree from an HBCU where this interest was cultivated. I have taught at large public universities and currently teach at a private institution. Through these and other experiences, I bring an insight and perspective that is relevant to addressing many of the challenges the profession faces today such as experienced by historians working under the most vulnerable conditions. I am interested in supporting the AHA’s outreach to these colleagues and exploring ways to increase the diversity of the profession.
The lingering impact of a global pandemic and increasing threats—some now actualized—to academic freedom demand even greater vigilance. I believe the AHA is positioned to provide advocacy and guidance on navigating our current moment. The stated goals of the AHA—to lead in the promotion of new approaches to history education and scholarship, set professional standards, and advocate for these things—remain unchanged. However, how we understand what this means has changed in important ways. Approaches and standards not imagined in 1884 or in the many decades that followed are vitally important to and meeting the challenges today and to fidelity to the important goals that brought us here. Research that expands the boundaries of knowledge is the key.
President-elect
The president-elect serves a one-year term. At the end of the term, he or she stands unopposed for election for president. The current president-elect is Thavolia Glymph, Duke Univ. (Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History and Professor of Law; slavery, emancipation, plantation societies and economies, gender, women).
Lauren Benton
Yale University (Barton M. Biggs Professor; global, comparative European empires, legal)
Candidate Statement
My scholarship in the last two decades has centered on the comparative history of European empires. Writing mainly about legal history in empires, I have analyzed conflicts over legal pluralism, imperial and Indigenous sovereignty, and the role of empires in international law. Teaching in both public and private institutions, I have had the privilege of working with students from a wide range of backgrounds and at all levels. I served in various academic leadership positions, including dean of humanities, graduate school dean, dean of arts and sciences, and president of the American Society for Legal History. I am particularly proud of the contributions I have made towards improving graduate training, increasing research opportunities for early career scholars, and enhancing diversity in the profession.
If elected AHA president, I would draw on my experience as the Association responds to novel, urgent challenges. Sharpening attacks on the humanities call for vigilance in defense of academic freedom. Proliferating attempts to legislate classroom content require strenuous efforts to explain standards of historical evidence and interpretation. A tightening faculty job market urges creative thinking about employment for historians, both within and beyond the academy. As AHA president, I would offer and gather ideas about how to address these conditions while joining public debates about the value of history. I would conscientiously seek to expand support for the next generations of historians. And I would look for ways to celebrate the core experiences of our profession: the intellectual joys of reading, writing, discussing, and teaching history.
Ben Vinson III
Case Western Reserve University (Hiram C. Haydn Professor and Provost) and Howard University (President, as of September 1; African diaspora, colonial Mexico)
Candidate Statement
I have long cherished the AHA. Most recently, serving as vice president of the Research Division, I have participated in and been made privy to the AHA’s deeper nature as a quintessential bonding entity, a potential source of connection for all of us—regardless of research field, institutional affiliation, institutional type, and professional rank. The AHA has always been a powerful convener of our profession, creating the vital space for us to exchange ideas and enrich our scholarship, as well as to think about ways to strengthen the public humanities, advocate for historical truth in our broader society, and navigate the complexities of our respective institutional homes and departments. The AHA has also been the location where we have forged meaningful, oftentimes lifelong relationships that have nourished our careers and personal lives. In the post-pandemic era, such institutional presence and bonding character has perhaps never been more important, at least from my perspective. This is not to say that our institutional history has not been pocked with rifts, exclusions, debates, and even omissions. It has. But we’ve always rallied in the face of such challenges, and we’ve always grown immeasurably. The AHA’s recently launched Racist Histories initiative, for instance, is just one example of how we’ve fruitfully reckoned with our past to our collective betterment.
Perhaps because of this, amidst the panoply of learned and professional societies in the United States, the AHA stands as an unquestioned leader. Our willingness to tackle hard social topics and to engage in advocacy, our ability to insist on principles of truth and evidence, and our continuous striving to polish the careers of all historians has been a veritable signature of our organization. In my view, the AHA presidency offers a unique opportunity to emphasize and reinforce the full value of our collectivity, our public platform, and our capacity for greater professionalization. As a career Latin American historian, university provost, former journal editor, president of the Conference of Latin American History, chair of the board of the National Humanities Center, and an Executive Committee member of the National Humanities Alliance, I bring substantial experience for championing our colleagues, elevating their work, and cultivating their success. If elected as the AHA president, I would look to take these activities to the next level. I would also look to help strengthen relations across our subfields, while engineering meaningful ties with other disciplines. As an administrator-scholar, I would look to fortify relationships between the AHA and multiple institutions of higher education, including foundations. I believe that a stronger future for the AHA hinges on the necessary bridge-building work of collaboration, which can ultimately yield mutually beneficial outcomes for all.
Research Division
The AHA Research Division works to help promote historical scholarship, preserve historical documents and artifacts, ensure equal and open access to information, and foster the dissemination of information about historical records and research. Returning members are Sandra Greene, Council member, Cornell Univ. (slavery, biography, Ghana) and Erin Greenwald, Council member, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (Public Programs; French Atlantic world, colonial Louisiana)
Vice President
Joseph S. Meisel
Brown University (Joukowsky Family University Librarian and adjunct associate professor, history; British politics and public culture)
Candidate Statement
In my current role leading a major research library, I am on the front lines of supporting scholars and widening access to scholarly resources. In my varied jobs, I have been deeply engaged with many sectors of the scholarly research system as well as broader issues of the academic labor force. I have been a piecework adjunct instructor, worked in university academic administration, and managed foundation fellowship programs for humanities researchers. In leadership positions, I have brought intensive focus to supporting and resourcing initiatives to help address historic marginalization and underrepresentation. Beyond the traditional publishing modes typical of my own books and articles, I have helped launch novel efforts to expand scholarly publication possibilities in both print and digital formats. These experiences have equipped me to think broadly and holistically about issues of critical concern to historians, and to work with the AHA as we confront historic challenges to scholars and scholarship.
William G. Thomas III
University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Angle Chair in the Humanities; American legal, digital scholarship)
Candidate Statement
My priorities are to support all forms of research and scholarship and expand the ways historical research circulates through and beyond disciplinary networks. In the current climate we need to invite more people to engage with the work that historians do. We need to deepen our commitment to the discipline as we simultaneously experiment with public, digital, and open forms of narrative and scholarship. Working across the breadth of the AHA including academic historians, teachers, students, archivists, librarians, independent scholars, scholarly editors, historic site leaders, museum interpreters, new media producers, and more, we can increase public and professional access to historical information, archival records, and scholarly conversations. With my experience in university leadership, academic partnerships, and community engagement, I hope to help the AHA lift up the next generation of historians and expand the growing diversity of voices across the discipline. I have served on the AHA conference Program Committee and represented the AHA for eight years on the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the US National Archives and Records Administration, including chairing the NHPRC’s 2020 Strategic Plan Task Force. I am honored to be nominated and to have the opportunity to advance the mission of the AHA.
Council Member
Andrew L. Johns
Brigham Young University and David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies (professor; US foreign relations, 20th-century US political, executive-legislative relations)
Candidate Statement
I am a historian of US foreign relations and political history, with a particular focus on the nexus of foreign policy and domestic politics. My research in scores of congressional, presidential, and national archives, combined with my experience at the Office of the Historian in the US Department of State and as a member of NARA’s FOIA committee, has led me to be deeply interested in issues relating to archival access and document classification, concerns that have become more serious for the discipline given the recent changes being proposed and instituted at the federal level. I also strongly believe that the AHA should take the lead in addressing threats to academic freedom and job security. I have served in elected positions for three professional organizations, including as president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the AHA, which has provided me with a panoptic perspective on the discipline, its challenges, and its potential.
Jana Lipman
Tulane University (professor; 20th-century US, US foreign relations, US immigration, labor)
Candidate Statement
I am a scholar of US foreign relations, and my research has brought me to archives in Washington DC, the Caribbean, Europe, and Southeast Asia. I investigate the relationships between local and international politics, and my publications spotlight military bases, refugee camps, and activism. First, debates about archives, classification, and declassification are at the center of contemporary political controversies. The AHA must remain a national advocate for archival openness and access, while continuing to adapt to the digital landscape. I have navigated challenges in government and nongovernmental archives, and I would bring these experiences to the Council. Second, the Research Division is responsible for access and dissemination of scholarship. In New Orleans, I am engaged in public history initiatives in labor and immigration history. This has provided me with new perspectives, partners, and motivation for collaborative and public-facing projects, which I would enthusiastically bring to the Council.
Professional Division
The AHA Professional Division promotes integrity, fairness, and civility in the practice of history. Returning members are Anne Hyde, vice president, Univ. of Oklahoma (19th-century North American West, Indigenous America, race); Tony Frazier, Council member, North Carolina Central Univ. (social and legal history of blacks in 18th-century in Great Britain, Atlantic slavery and emancipation, African American); and Laura Hostetler, Council member, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago (Qing empire, Sino-European relations, early modern world, cartography, humanities education).
Council Member
Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan
Rutgers University (assistant teaching professor and coordinator, public history; 19th-century US, social, public)
Candidate Statement
Having worked as an archivist and public historian both inside and outside of academia throughout my career, I am committed to ensuring that we are engaging each other as well as our shared communities and audiences in critical conversations about the role of history in public life. I believe that historical awareness is an essential component of an informed society that will help us to build a more just future. I’d like to see practicing public historians more engaged in AHA, moving beyond outdated assumptions about divides between academic history and applied history, so that we can collectively push the field forward in sync.
Lindsay J. O’Neill
University of Southern California (teaching associate professor; early modern information distribution, Black experience in Britain)
Candidate Statement
As a historian of the British Empire who specializes in British expansion in the early 18th century, communication networks, and relations with Africa, I am keenly aware of how race and power inequities have structured and continue to structure societies. Furthermore, as an academic in a nontenured position I have followed a less traditional, but increasingly common, trajectory. I have a teaching-track position at a R-1 private university and I have served as director of undergraduate studies for six years. One of my goals, if elected, would be to bring an awareness of the multiple paths academics take and differing opportunities and burdens presented to and placed upon them. There is no one kind of historian and the many ways we navigate the profession makes it important to think deeply about how we can act with integrity, fairness, and civility in an inclusive and multifaceted way.
Teaching Division
The AHA Teaching Division collects and disseminates information about the training of teachers, studies and encourages innovative methods of instruction, and works to foster cooperation among faculty. Returning members are Kathleen Hilliard, vice president, Iowa State Univ. (informal economies, slavery and emancipation, US South); Karen Marrero, Council member, Wayne State Univ. (early North America and Indigenous, transnational and borderlands); and Charles Zappia, San Diego Mesa Coll. (corporatization of higher education, community college historians, transformation of work and the American labor movement).
Council Member
Valencia Abbott
Rockingham Early College High School (social studies/history teacher; local, African American history)
Candidate Statement
Becoming a teacher at 40 was a point that many of my friends thought I was out of my mind, but I knew that after a year of long-term substitute teaching, this space was my purpose, and for 19 years, that has only amplified my initial conclusion. One of the overall observations that have intensified is that studying historical content is essential to making the most of the pedagogical practice of teaching. My priority for this nomination is that I become more of an inspiration and motivation for other teachers on the spectrum, from first-time teachers to veterans with the mission of AHA. It is with the hope, with the force of AHA, that the intersection of teachers, historians, and scholars becomes a more solidified alliance. Recognizing that good teaching, vetted and expanding content for the benefit of our students is best for us all.
Jennifer Baniewicz
Amos Alonzo Stagg High School (teacher; US, AP US, AP European, Western civilization)
Candidate Statement
I have been a history teacher for 26 years, dedicating my professional life to the examination of history and how best to make it meaningful to high school students. Our country’s commitment to understanding US history has significantly weakened over the last 20 years, and this has given me a new sense of urgency about making history relatable and useful to young adults. It is my job to help students see themselves in the past as well as a part of this nation’s future. I believe that by bringing together the voices of higher education faculty, public historians, and K-12 teachers, we can strengthen history education programs that benefit our students and our nation’s understanding of history. I promise to listen as well as bring ideas and energy into this conversation.
At Large
This Council member will represent the interests of graduate students in Council, play a leadership role in organizing participation of graduate students in AHA activities, and disseminate information about AHA activities and initiatives to graduate students in history.
Council Member
Pragya Kaul
University of Michigan (PhD candidate; Europe, global and world, Asia)
Candidate Statement
I am a historian of migration whose work lies at the intersection of Holocaust Studies, Refugee Studies, and the history of the British Empire. As a graduate student from the “Global South,” my personal and professional histories are also marked by multiple migrations, the experiences of which inform my priorities as Council member, at large. Specifically, I am committed to addressing inequities faced by graduate students and early career scholars that come from populations frequently marginalized in academia. I have worked towards these commitments consistently, spearheading initiatives in my professional communities towards digital literacy, online pedagogy, peer mentorship, and career development. At the AHA, I aim to continue advocating for opportunities that set all historians up for success, regardless of their points of entry into the profession or aspirations to work beyond it.
Travis Wright
Indiana University (PhD candidate; modern US)
Candidate Statement
I am a historian of Black life in the United States. When I entered college as a first-generation Black student, I was drawn to History, wanting to answer many of the questions at the heart of my family’s experience as Black Americans. Specifically, what it means to be Black in the US. This deeply personal question continues to guide my intellectual curiosity while simultaneously informing my service to the field. As an early career scholar and historian of the Black experience, my priorities within the AHA are twofold. First, I aim to advocate for graduate students and early career scholars, particularly those from underrepresented communities. With growing uncertainty facing the job market, it is important to provide resources and tools for early career scholars to succeed. Second, I am committed to building on the AHA’s mission of diversity and inclusion, helping to ensure the profession is fair and equitable.