Historians Making News

This space highlights the accomplishments of historians. Members and non-member historians are encouraged to submit news about prizes, promotions, honors, tenure, and new jobs. Entries to be considered for inclusion on "Historians Making News" can be about yourself, another historian, or group of historians. AHA staff will review all submissions.

  • Ruth Ben-Ghiat Will Be Visiting Scholar at Penn's Annenberg's School Spring 2019

    Sep 12, 2018 - 

    Ruth Ben-Ghiat will be a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Media at Risk, part of the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Her last book, Italian Fascism's Empire Cinema, is a study of Fascist film propaganda. She is currently writing about threats to press freedoms in authoritarian regimes, and in President Trump's America.

  • AHA Members Appointed to State Department Historical Advisory Committee

    Aug 31, 2018 - 

    Earlier this week, the State Department appointed three AHA members to its Historical Advisory Committee. The newly appointed members are David Engerman (Brandeis Univ.), Adriane Lentz-Smith (Duke Univ.), and Julia Irwin (Univ. of South Florida). As members of the committee, they will be responsible for advising the Office of the Historian at the State Department. 

  • ACLS Awards over $940,000 to African Humanities Scholars

    Aug 15, 2018 - 

    The ACLS has announced the 2018 class of scholars for its African Humanities Program, now in its 10th year. Among the recipients are five historians, each of whom will be offered a two- to four-month-long residency at one of seven AHP residential centers on the continent, while they pursue their research. "Fellows taking up residencies will benefit from interaction with new academic communities and with library and other research resources at residential sites," noted Andrzej Tymowski, director of ACLS International Programs. 

  • AHA Members among Recent NEH Grant Recipients

    Aug 09, 2018 - 

    The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced August 8 that it will award over $43 million in grants for humanities projects across the country. Among those whose projects were selected were a number of historians, including 18 AHA members. According to the National History Alliance's statement concerning the news, "the NEH's investments generate public-private partnerships, cutting-edge research, promote teaching, and provide lifelong learning opportunities." See the full announcement and list of awardees on the NEH website.

  • Member Op-Ed on the Importance of the 14th Amendment

    Jul 20, 2018 - 

    Martha Jones, professor of presidential history at Johns Hopkins University and AHA member, published an op-ed in the Washington Post concerning the historical context of the 14th Amendment in the wake of President Trump's comments on birthright citizenship. "Birthright has been affirmed, again and again, ensuring that no matter how racist the regime, the Constitution grants citizenship to all people born in the United States," Jones writes in her piece, specifically pointing to cases like U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark that cited the 14th Amendment in their defense of citizenship by birth. "The rising calls to repeal birthright citizenship demand that we equip ourselves for the debate that is on the near horizon."

  • AHA Member Writes Op-Ed Concerning State of Medieval Studies

    Jul 17, 2018 - 

    Matthew Gabriele, AHA member and professor of medieval history at Virginia Tech, penned an op-ed in Forbes urging historians to be aware of the role they play in the political appropriation of traditional medieval symbols and iconography. "Marginalizing the voices of scholars asking questions about the state of the field, about what we study and how we study it, is not only ignoring the history of Medieval Studies but further distancing us from the past we're all so interested in," Gabriele concludes. 

  • ACLS Announces Inaugural Class of Project Development Grants

    Jun 28, 2018 - 

    The American Council of Learned Societies announced the inaugural recipients of the ACLS Project Development Grants. The $5,000 seed grants are intended to support humanities faculty at teaching-intensive institutions. Among the 15 recipients are six historians. Visit the ACLS website to see the full list of recipients. 

  • AHR Article Awarded Berks Prize

    Jun 13, 2018 - 

    Congratulations to Vanessa Ogle (Univ. of California, Berkeley) for receiving a 2017 article prize from the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. Published in the December 2017 issue of the American Historical Review, Ogle's article, "Archipelago Capitalism: Tax Havens, Offshore Money, and the State, 1950s-1970s," was recognized as one of the best articles in a field of history other than the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality. 

  • AHA Members Included in 2018 Class of ACLS Public Fellows

    Jun 07, 2018 - 

    The ACLS announced the eighth annual cohort of Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows. Among the program's 24 fellows are three AHA members. Each fellow will be placed in a two-year, full-time position with a nonprofit organization or government agency working in the fields of policy, civil rights, arts, and the media. To see the full news post, please visit the ACLS website.

  • AHA Institutional Members Awarded AAC&U Grants for History Departments

    May 25, 2018 - 

    On May 21, the Association of American Colleges and Universities announced it will be awarding funding to 24 history departments to "advance civic learning and social responsibility as expected dimensions within students' majors." Among the institutions listed are the State University of New York, College at Geneseo and the University of Central Florida, both AHA institutional members. To see the full list of recipients, visit the AAC&U's website. 

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