The 117th annual meeting of the American Historical Association will be held in Chicago at the Hilton Chicago and the Palmer House Hilton. More than 1,000 scholars, including 97 from abroad, will participate in 266 AHA and affiliate sessions. Forty-four affiliated societies and other groups will cosponsor sessions or hold separate luncheons, sessions, and meetings. AHA and affiliate events are summarized in both the online Program, and on page 19 of the print version, which was mailed mid-October. AHA-sponsored sessions begin on page 69 with affiliated-society sessions following in alphabetical order in each time period.
Noted below are sessions and events sponsored by Association divisions and committees. (Numbers in parentheses are session numbers and not page numbers.)
The AHA's Teaching Division is sponsoring several sessions, including two that focus upon collaboration among teachers, “Lessons Learned from the Teaching American History Program’s First Year: Partnerships in Professional Development” (4) and “Strategies for Effective Teaching: Collaboration in the University Classroom” (32). Among others sponsored by the Teaching Division are such sessions as (with the Coordinating Council for Women in History) “Impact on History Courses during and after 9–11” (33); (with H-Net) “Scholarly Communication on the Internet: Reviewing History Web Sites” (60); “To Build a Profession: Teachers, Historians, and Educators in the Preparation of History Teachers” (92); “Graduate Students Discuss Their Preparation as Future Faculty” (117); and “Using Multimedia for Inquiry-Based Learning in Secondary Education” (144).
The division will cosponsor the Advanced Placement luncheon on Saturday, January 4 with the College Board and the World History Association. Richard White (Stanford Univ.) will speak on the theme, "The American West, American Indians, and the Environment in the College American History Survey Course." Uma Venkateswaran of the Educational Testing Service will preside.
For the 13th year, the AHA's Professional Division continues its sponsorship of a workshop, “Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century” (1) in conjunction with the Coordinating Council for Women in History and the AHA Committee for Graduate Students. It is scheduled for Friday, January 3, 9:30–11:30 a.m. Session attendees will be divided into small interviewee groups, each led by a college or university faculty member or a public historian who will conduct mock interviews and lead discussion of successful interview strategies. William J. Cronon (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison), the vice president of the Professional Division, will preside. In the Friday afternoon time slot, the division will sponsor a roundtable, “The Job Hunt” (31) with the AHA Committee for Graduate Students and the AHA Task Force on Public History. Jon Butler (Yale Univ.), Violet Johnson (Agnes Scott Coll.), Timothy J. McMannon (Highline Community Coll.), Melanie I. Sturgeon (Arizona State Library), and Valentina K. Tikoff (DePaul Univ.) will be the panelists. The Professional Division will also sponsor a roundtable on Saturday, January 4. Offered in the afternoon time slot, “Plagiarism: What’s So Bad about it, Anyway?”(91) features panelists Alan Brinkley (Columbia Univ.), James Fallows (The Atlantic Monthly), Donald Lamm (Carlisle & Company, formerly with W.W. Norton & Co.), Richard Posner (Univ. of Chicago), and Carla Rahn Phillips (Univ. of Minnesota). William J. Cronon will chair.
The AHA's Research Division will sponsor with H-Net “Scholarly Communication on the Internet: A Retrospective Look at H-Net on Its Tenth Anniversary” (3), chaired by Janice L. Reiff (UCLA). Mark Kornbluh (Michigan State Univ.) and Paul Turnbull (James Cook Univ.) will speak on empirical usage of H-Net, Peter Knupfer (Michigan State Univ.) will comment on H-Net’s history, Marilyn Levine (Lewis-Clark State Coll.) will reflect on H-Net’s place in the profession, and John Unsworth (Univ. of Virginia) will discuss the benefits of low bandwidth in virtual communities.
The Committee on Minority Historians (CMH) is sponsoring the session “Increasing the Presence of Minority Graduate Students in the Profession” (61) with the AHA’s Committee for Graduate Students. Carlton Wilson (North Carolina Central Univ. and CMH member) will chair the session. Ned Blackhawk (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison), Gloria Miranda (El Camino Coll.), Tony Frazier (North Carolina Central Univ.), and Earl Lewis (Univ. of Michigan) will present papers. The CMH also invites minority scholars, graduate students, and others attending the annual meeting to a cash-bar reception on Saturday, January 4, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Hilton Chicago’s Boulevard Room A. The CMH also invites minority graduate students and first-year faculty to a complimentary continental breakfast on Friday, January 3, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. to discuss life in the profession. If interested, e-mail Cliff Jacobs by December 2 to register. Individuals who wish to participate in the discussion only are invited to arrive at 8:15 a.m.
The Committee on Women Historians (CWH) is sponsoring the session “Gender, Space, and Popular Entertainment: Dirty Dancing in Nineteenth-Century New York and Stalinist Soviet Union” (64). Elizabeth Lunbeck (Princeton Univ. and CWH chair) will preside and Seth Koven (Villanova Univ.) and Mary Ryan (Johns Hopkins Univ.) will comment. Anna Krylova (Univ. of South Carolina) will present the paper “Stories about Sexual and Political Danger on the Soviet Dance Floor” and James Cook (Univ. of Michigan) will discuss “Dancing in New York’s Five Points: A Contested History.” The CWH will hold its annual breakfast on Saturday morning. George Chauncey (Univ. of Chicago) will speak and Elizabeth Lunbeck will preside. Preregistration is required for purchase of breakfast tickets; see the AHA registration form in the September or October issues of Perspectives or on the AHA’s web site (www.historians.org/annual).
The Committee for Graduate Students (CGS) is sponsoring six sessions. On Saturday, January 4, the CGS will sponsor the session “Preparing for the Job Market: A Nuts-and-Bolts Workshop” (62). Lillian Guerra (Bates Coll. and CGS chair) will preside. Steve Hochstadt (Bates Coll.) will talk about the cover letter, Betty A. Dessants (Shippensburg Univ.) will discuss preparing the teaching portfolio, and Sally E. Hadden (Florida State Univ.) will review what a candidate should do once on campus.
The CGS will also cosponsor sessions with AHA divisions. With the Teaching Division, it will sponsor "Graduate Students Discuss Their Preparation as Future Faculty" (117); with the Committee on Minority Historians, "Increasing the Presence of Minority Graduate Students in the Profession" (61); and with the Task Force on Public History, "Careers in History" (93). The CGS will cosponsor "Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century" (1) and "The Job Hunt: A Roundtable" (31) with the Professional Division. The former is also cosponsored by the Coordinating Council for Women in History.
On Friday, January 3, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Hilton Chicago's Boulevard Room C, the CGS will sponsor an open forum to discuss issues of interest to graduate students. Immediately following the forum, all graduate students are invited to attend a reception in their honor beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Hilton Chicago's Boulevard Room B. See page 18 of the Program for additional events of special interest to graduate students.
The Committee on Graduate Education (CGE) will sponsor a session on the opening night of the annual meeting, Thursday, January 2, beginning at 8:00 p.m., “A Time for Change: The AHA and National Efforts to Rethink, Review, and Reform Graduate Education.” Colin A. Palmer (Princeton Univ. and CGE chair) will preside. Thomas Bender (New York Univ. and CGE secretary) will talk about the CGE’s efforts, Chris Golde (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) will discuss the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate, Charlotte V. Kuh (National Research Council) will examine the methodology of the NRC’s assessment of the research doctorate, and Earl Lewis (Univ. of Michigan) will speak about the Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s “Responsive PhD” Project.
The Task Force on Public History (TFPH) will sponsor three sessions, including “The Job Hunt” (31) with the Professional Division and the CGS and “Careers in History” (93) with the CGS. The TFPH will also sponsor “Public History Collaborative Scholarship with the Community” (145). Ryman M. Lewis (Illinois Humanities Council) will chair. Dominic A. Pacyga (Columbia Coll.) and Bonita Mall (Chicago Architecture Foundation) will discuss crossing the boundary between academic and the neighborhood, Patricia Mooney-Melvin (Loyola Univ. Chicago) will talk about the East Rogers Park Neighborhood History Project, and James J. LaBar (Arizona State Univ.) and Noel J. Stowe (Arizona State Univ.) will speak on partnerships for history in neighborhood parks.
Preceding the session on Saturday, January 4, beginning at 12:30 p.m. in the Hilton Chicago's Williford Room C, the TFPH will sponsor an open forum to report on the task force's work to date. The TFPH invites all colleagues, including public and academic historians, to attend and share their concerns, interests, and comments.
— is the AHA's convention director.
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