The annual meeting provides many opportunities to develop new skills, explore careers available to historians, and meet people from a variety of professions. Whether you are curious about jobs within or beyond the academy (or both), AHA20 has workshops, sessions, and networking events that will help you broaden your professional horizons. 

Meet New People

There are numerous ways to meet catch up with old friends or meet new people at the annual meeting. Newcomers are encouraged to join us at Getting the Most Out of the Annual Meeting, an orientation for first-time attendees. A variety of thematic receptions, including ones for undergraduates, graduate students, two-year faculty, K-12 teachers, bloggers and twitterstorians, and public historians, provide opportunities to socialize and network. Finally, stop by the seventh annual Career Fair on Sunday afternoon, hosted by the AHA’s Career Diversity for Historians initiative, where you can speak with dozens of historians working in government, education, non-profit organizations, and the private sector.

Explore Career Paths

Historians work in all kinds of professional settings, and the annual meeting offers opportunities to explore how and where they practice their craft and use their skills. Learn what employers value in historical doctoral education, in Humanities PhDs beyond the Academy: The Employer Perspective. Stop by the seventh annual Career Fair, and speak with dozens of historians working in advocacy organizations, business, higher ed administration, and more. While you are at the Career Fair, check out Ask an Assistant Professor to get the scoop from faculty at a range of colleges and universities about what their job is really like. Still want more? The annual meeting program features a range of panels focused on careers for historians in historical consulting, publishing, public policy, university administration, and on job opportunities for historians with a master’s degree.

Learn New Skills…or Hone Existing Ones

The AHA’s Career Diversity for Historians initiative has identified five key skills that help historians succeed in careers both inside and beyond the professoriate. The annual meeting is a great place to gain familiarity with many of them. For example, you can develop your digital know-how at the seventh annual Getting Started in Digital History Workshop. Interested in communicating with a broad range of audiences? Stretch your communication skills at one of the research lightning rounds, explore academic podcasting, or find out more about the challenges and opportunities of practicing history on social media. Want to make sure your resume reflects your skills and experiences? Register for the free Resume Writing Workshop.

Teaching is an essential historical skill, and the annual meeting is overflowing with workshops and panels devoted to professional development for teachers in K-12 and postsecondary environments. In conjunction with the AHA’s History Gateways initiative, we are holding panels on the value of introductory history course, their purpose in the discipline and society, and how to redesign them to better serve students with a wide range of preparation and motivation. Current and future faculty will benefit from discussions about the state of history within the landscape of higher education, and panels on academic freedom and free speech. Check out our guide to Teaching and Learning activities at the annual meeting for full details. 

Reimagine Doctoral Education

The annual meeting is the perfect place to learn about the work history departments across the country are doing to better prepare their students for a variety of career outcomes. Learn about how programs are rethinking the purpose and value of history PhD programs, integrating career diversity into their curricula, developing innovative programming, preparing students as teachers, and building better connections with their alumni.

We’ll also host a series of conversations exploring connections between career diversity and other urgent issues within doctoral education, including the mental health crisis affecting graduate students, and efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity within the discipline.

For Undergraduate Attendees

AHA20 offers professional development activities for undergraduates too! Attend orientation and find out how to get the most from the conference. Describe your research to fellow historians in an undergraduate-focused Lightning Round (Sign-up here). Learn how to navigate the transition from undergraduate to graduate student, and explore some of the career paths a history major can open for you.

Free Professional Headshots

This year, the AHA will provide the opportunity for all annual meeting attendees to have a professional head shot taken at no cost. Head shots will be available in the Exhibit Hall, Hilton Hotel, on Sunday, January 5 from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.

Session Roundup

AHA20 is the place to explore career paths for historians and diversify your skill set. Whether you are pursuing a degree in history, currently seeking employment, or are a faculty member interested in how you can better prepare your students for their careers, you’ll find panels and workshops that provide insight and inspiration.

Friday:

Introducing History: Syllabus Design with the Scholarship on Teaching and Learning
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Riverside Ballroom (Sheraton New York, Third Floor)

Getting Started in Digital History Workshop
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM, Concourse A (New York Hilton, Concourse Level)

Humanities PhDs beyond the Academy: The Employer Perspective
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Trianon Ballroom (New York Hilton, Third Floor)

Historically Informed Present-Day Activism in the City
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Bowery (Sheraton New York, Lower Level)

A Blueprint for Departmental Change: The History Teaching and Learning Project at the University of Colorado Boulder
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, New York Room (New York Hilton, Fourth Floor)

Deans, Provosts, and Historians: A Roundtable on the State of the History Department in the Higher Education Landscape
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Gramercy East (New York Hilton, Second Floor) 

Practicing Pedagogy: A Discussion on Graduate and Early Career Teaching
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Riverside Ballroom (Sheraton New York, Third Floor)

Historical Consulting: Pursuing a Career Beyond Academia
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Riverside Suite (Sheraton New York, Third Floor)

Valuing the Humanities: Challenging Narratives of Career Diversity for Historians
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Nassau West (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Saturday:

Lightning Round, Part 1
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

How to Say Yes and When to Say No: Navigating Service Work
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Trianon Ballroom (New York Hilton, Third Floor)

Careers in Publishing for ABDs and PhDs
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Beekman Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

From Studying the Past to Influencing the Future: Historians and Public Policy
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Gibson Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Undergraduate Lightning Round
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

What's So Great About Intro Courses?
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, Mercury Ballroom (New York Hilton, Third Floor)

Transitions to Graduate School
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, Beekman Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor) 

Historians as Expert Witnesses: Consulting and Testifying
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, Murray Hill West (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Surviving and Thriving: Inclusive, Meaningful Mentorship for Women across the Profession
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, Concourse C (New York Hilton, Concourse Level)

Career Diversity in Transnational Context
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Beekman Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Historians on the Battleground of Social Media: Lessons from Eight Years of Askhistorians
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Empire Ballroom East (Sheraton New York, Second Floor)

The Job Market and Mental Health: A Conversation on Career Diversity and Graduate Education
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Gramercy West (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Digital Drop-In
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Gibson Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Baking Career Diversity into Graduate Education: Reflections from the Field
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Sutton South (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Sunday:

Implementing Career Diversity in Your Department: A Lightning Round of Emerging Ideas and Practices
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor) 

A Q&A with Journal Editors
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Sutton South (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

The Professor in Polarized Times: Challenges of Free Speech and Inclusion on Campus and in the Classroom
8:30 AM – 10:00 AM, Empire Ballroom East (Sheraton New York, Second Floor)

Alumni Relations: Building an Historical Community
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM, Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Resume Writing Workshop
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM, East Room (New York Hilton, Fourth Floor)

Career Fair
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Rhinelander Gallery (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Terminal Doesn't Mean Dead: Finding a Job with a History MA
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Trianon Ballroom (New York Hilton, Third Floor)

Writing a Book from Beyond the Professoriate
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Sutton Center (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

The New Normal? Integrating Career Pathways in History Graduate Education
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Nassau East (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

More Than One Path: Maneuvering the Demands of the Academy and Destigmatizing Career Diversity
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM, Petit Trianon (New York Hilton, Third Floor)

"What Will You Do with a History Education?" Careers in Public Policy
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Trianon Ballroom (New York Hilton, Third Floor)

A Q&A with Publishers
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Beekman Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Writing History with Scientific Data
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Bowery (Sheraton New York, Lower Level)

A Roundtable on Diverse Careers inside the Academy
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM, Murray Hill West (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Monday:

Lightning Round, Part 2
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM, Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Race and Inclusion in Academia and Career Diversity
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM, Sutton Center (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Fearless Speech: Navigating Protest, Confrontation, and Freedom of Speech as a Young Historian
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM, Sutton South (New York Hilton, Second Floor) 

Podcasting History
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM, Murray Hill West (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Building Career Diversity into the Graduate Curriculum
9:00 AM – 10:30 AM, Murray Hill East (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Lightning Round, Part 3
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM, Sutton North (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Marketing the History Major,
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM, Sutton South (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

Academic Freedom and the Historical Profession
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM, Beekman Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)

The Humanities Without Walls Fellowship: A Career Diversity Laboratory for Humanities PhD Students
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM, Nassau East (New York Hilton, Second Floor)