Connect with Your Community
Since 2018, the AHA has offered a workshop for history department chairs each summer. This interactive, two-day workshop provides a productive space for new and experienced chairs to hold thoughtful discussions and share insights about the issues and challenges facing historians and history departments. The workshop is an opportunity for chairs to share resources, learn from one another, and build a cohort to support their professional development.
"This was an extremely useful workshop for me as a new chair. It gave me answers to questions that I didn't even know that I should be asking. It was very timely. I loved learning from other chairs."
"I have been a chair for eight years at two different institutions, and I did not realize how much I would learn just from talking with other chairs at a workshop such as this."
"Experiencing the degree to which almost all of us are 'in the same boat' with regard to departmental culture, issues of equity and climate, funding, enrollments, and institutional mandates was so very affirming for me. I came away with a tremendous esprit de corps and with renewed energy and new ideas to bring home to my department. These pressures can seem so very daunting and the job feel isolating; this workshop defuses those feelings in a very constructive manner."
2025 Workshop
The 2025 Department Chairs’ Workshop will be held online from June 23–24. Registration helps to support honoraria for facilitators and the substantial staff time required to support online events.
The workshop will run from 12–4 p.m. ET on both the 23rd and 24th. Programing will include full group and facilitated breakout discussions, as well as a Q&A session with lobbyists. To incorporate the interests of attendees, a full agenda will be released a week prior to the workshop. Previous agendas are available in the Past Workshops section below.
Registration & Fees
Institutional Members: $250
Institutional Non-Members: $350
Register for the workshop by signing in at historians.org/myaha. Select "Register for Chairs' Workshop" under Events. If you would like to be invoiced instead, contact ltownsend@historians.org. Refunds are available through June 16, 2025.
The registration deadline is June 16, 2025. Registration will be limited to 30. To be placed on a waitlist, or if you have any questions about the workshop, please write to Rachel Wheatley at rwheatley@historians.org.
Past Workshops
To get a better sense of plenary topics and breakout discussions, check out the agendas from past workshops:
2024 Department Chairs' Workshop Agenda (PDF)
2023 Department Chairs' Workshop in 2023 (PDF)
2022 Annual Department Chairs' Workshop (PDF)
2021 Annual Department Chairs' Workshop (PDF)
Supporting History Department Chairs
"I’ve been involved with a wide range of activities in my 11 years working at the AHA, but some of my most rewarding experiences have been working with history department chairs," writes AHA deputy director Dana Schaffer in Perspectives on History. "The AHA is grateful for the work of history department chairs, and we strive to provide programs, activities, and resources to help them sustain their work, support colleagues and students, and defend the historical discipline."
Resources & Webinars
Online Programs for Department Chairs
Since 2020, AHA has hosted a regular series of online webinars to support the work of history department chairs. The webinars are small group discussions facilitated by experienced department chairs on topics related to the faculty-facing, student-facing, and administrative-facing work of chairs. Department chairs are encouraged to attend as many webinars as are of interest.
Academic Department Resources
History department chairs are on the front lines of the discipline, defending historians’ work and supporting their professional lives at all stages of their academic careers. The AHA strives to strengthen this work and provide resources and opportunities that make chairs’ work easier and valued.. The AHA provides resources and hosts a variety of events and opportunities to benefit department chairs and build community.
Institutional & Student Memberships
The AHA is committed to helping leaders navigate the challenges facing the discipline of history at colleges and universities, as well as in libraries, archives, and K-12 schools. Institutional membership provides critical support for these efforts. Institutional members can purchase discounted student memberships for only $30 each, a discount of nearly 30% off the regular rate. Help your students enjoy all the benefits of AHA membership in an easy, affordable way.