2022–23 Department Chairs Webinar Series

The seminars were organized by AHA staff in collaboration with Jennifer McNabb, department head and professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa.

The State of the Discipline: Challenges for Department Chairs

May 19, 2023

Dealing with Difficult Faculty and Staff

March 24, 2023

Carlos Blanton (Texas A&M Univ.), Elaine Carey (Oakland Univ.), Ravi Gupta (Utah State Univ.), and Jennifer McNabb (Univ. of Northern Iowa)

A healthy department culture enhances job satisfaction and the productivity of an academic unit, but difficult people can reduce morale and departmental effectiveness. The department bully, the faculty member who determinedly rejects one leg (or more) of the teaching-scholarship-service tripod, the inappropriate/insensitive communicator, and the faculty member who refuses any alteration of the status quo each pose a range of administrative challenges that chairs are charged to address and correct. This interactive discussion focuses on identifying strategies for addressing common barriers posed by difficult personnel to creating and maintaining a thriving, functional department culture.

Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Scholarship

February 24, 2023
James Grossman (American Historical Assoc.) and Rita Chin (Univ. of Michigan)

This webinar is an opportunity for chairs to discuss the new guidelines, which lay the foundation for a broad expansion of what constitutes historical scholarship and provide recommendations for evaluating diverse genres of historical scholarship in professional settings where historians work.

Recruitment Matters: From Prospects to Commits

October 28, 2022
Ravi M. Gupta (Utah State Univ.), Jennifer McNabb (Univ. of Northern Iowa), and Lynn Mollenauer (Univ. of North Carolina. Wilmington)

Recruitment is an essential component of the department chair’s responsibilities, and this interactive webinar will focus on successful strategies for selling History as an academic program to prospective first-time college students, transfer students, current students, and graduate students. Following a brief introduction by seminar leader Jennifer McNabb (Univ. of Northern Iowa), attendees will break into small discussion groups on the following topics: Recruiting Students Already on Campus; Recruiting Students Not Already on Campus (First-Years and Transfers); Recruiting Graduate Students.