Publication Date

November 1, 2006

The 121st annual meeting of the American Historical Association will be held January 4–7, 2007, in Atlanta at the Hilton Atlanta, Atlanta Marriott Marquis, Westin Peachtree Plaza Atlanta, and Hyatt Regency Atlanta. More than 1,300 scholars, including 116 from 31 countries, will participate in 317 AHA and affiliate sessions. Forty-six specialized affiliated societies and other groups will cosponsor sessions or hold separate luncheons, sessions, and meetings. AHA and affiliate events are summarized in the front portion of the Program, (with details of sessions listed in the main body of the program; AHA-sponsored sessions begin on page 75 of the printed version of the Program, with affiliated society sessions following in alphabetical order in each time period). The meeting Program, which was mailed out in October, is also available online at www.historians.org/annual/2007/program.

Noted below are sessions and events sponsored by the Association's divisions and committees. The numbers in parentheses are session numbers.

The AHA Teaching Division is sponsoring five roundtables, "Research and Teaching: Imagined Divide?” (3), “Teaching with Historical Fiction” (27), “Rethinking America in Global Perspective: Curricular Projects from an AHA/NEH Summer Institute for College Teachers” (58), “How Successfully to Incorporate African and Latin American Topics into the World History Survey” (91), and “Teaching about Race and Racism” (167).

The division will cosponsor the Advanced Placement luncheon on Saturday, January 6 with the College Board and the World History Association. Ronnie Po-chia Hsia (Penn State Univ.) will speak on “Broadening the World History Survey Course: Teaching about the Cultural Encounter between Counter-Reformation Europe and the Ming and Qing Empires.” Allison Clark, associate director, curriculum and professional development, College Board will preside.

For the 17th year, the AHA Professional Division continues its sponsorship of a workshop on "Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century” (24) in conjunction with the Coordinating Council for Women in History and the AHA Committee for Graduate Students. At this session, scheduled for 9:30–11:30 a.m., on Friday, January 5, 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. Anthony T. Grafton (Princeton Univ.), vice president of the Professional Division, will preside.

The division is also sponsoring five sessions, two open forums, and a workshop. The sessions include "Lives in History: Four Master Historians Reflect on Their Careers” (92); “Transparency in Graduate Education: What Future Historians Need to Know and History Departments Ought to Tell Them” (120) with the AHA Committee for Graduate Students; “Making University and Museum Partnerships Work” (139); and"Planning for the Civil War Sesquicentennial” (196).

The division will sponsor "Careers in History: A Workshop for Aspiring Historians” during Friday midday (12:30–2:00 p.m.). High school, undergraduate, and beginning graduate students can learn about job opportunities for historians and history majors. The eight participants will describe their history careers in a variety of workplace settings, discuss potential job opportunities in their fields, and provide information about undergraduate and graduate programs.

The division will sponsor an open forum on disability following the Friday afternoon sessions, beginning at 4:45 p.m. Anthony Grafton and members of the division will host the open forum to discuss professional issues relating to disability. All attendees are welcome to attend.

In the Saturday midday time period, two members of the Professional Division—Spencer Crew (National Underground Railroad Freedom Center) and Art Gomez (National Park Service) will lead a forum for public historians (119) to discuss issues of interest. That evening, the division will host—with the Georgia Humanities Alliance and the National Council on Public History—a reception for public historians and anyone with an interest in public history.

The AHA's Research Division will sponsor five sessions and a multisession workshop. The sessions are: "A Conversation about Historians in Public” (1); “Writing for a Wider Public: A Workshop on Trade Publishing” (2); “Getting to the First Publication: Articles and Monographs” (57) with the AHA Committee for Graduate Students; “Corporatizing Higher Education: Developments, Consequences, and Future Perspectives” (90); “Medieval Historiography: Old and New Classics” (121); and “Balancing Work and Family in the Academic Work Place” (138) with the AHA Committee on Women Historians, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, and the Coordinating Council for Women in History.

Three sessions will focus on the theme of "Documentarians as Historians, Historians as Documentarians: Making Documentarians and Retelling History: Twenty-five Years of Film Making at NYU's Public History Program and at the Center for Media, Culture, and History” (26); “Putting History into Documentary: The Making of Stranger With A Camera, the 2001 AHA John O'Connor Film Award Winner” (56); and “Putting History into (Recreation) History” (88).

The Committee on Minority Historians will cosponsor the roundtable "Historically Black Colleges: Impacting Education for the African American Deaf and Blind Community, 1868–1960” (28). Rhonda Jones (Duke Univ.) will chair. Speakers are Carolyn McCaskill (Gallaudet Univ.), Susan Burch (Gallaudet Univ.), Hannah Ruth Joyner (independent scholar), Terry Rowden (Coll. of Wooster), and Sandra Jowers-Barber (Univ. of the District of Columbia). The committee is also sponsoring “Approaching New Subjectivities: African American/Latino Relations in the Twentieth Century” (59) with the Conference on Latin American History and “The African American Experience in Atlanta” (93).

The CMH invites minority scholars, graduate students, and others attending the annual meeting to areception on Saturday, January 6, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The CMH also invites minority graduate students and first-year faculty to a complimentary continental breakfast on Friday, January 5, from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. to discuss life in the profession. If interested in attending, e-mail Cliff Jacobs at to register by December 4. Individuals who wish to participate in the discussion only are invited to arrive at 8:15 a.m.

The Committee on Women Historians is sponsoring the roundtable "Balancing Work and Family in the Academic Work Place” (138) with the AHA Research Division, the Committee on Lesbian and Gay History, and the Coordinating Council for Women in History. The panel will address historians and policy, creating a family-friendly department, and other issues. Participants are James N. Green (Brown Univ.), Serena Zabin (Carleton Coll.), Barbara Ransby (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago), and Janet L. Polasky (Univ. of New Hampshire). The CWH also invites attendees to its annual breakfast on Saturday, January 6. Barbara Ransby will preside and Evelynn M. Hammonds (Harvard Univ.) will speak. Preregistration and tickets are required.

The Committee for Graduate Students (CGS) is sponsoring five sessions: "Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century” (24) with the AHA Professional Division and the Coordinating Council for Women in History; “Getting to the First Publication: Articles and Monographs” (57) with the AHA Research Division; “Beyond Reading the Paper: Exploring New Presentation Formats for the AHA Annual Meeting” (60); “Transparency in Graduate Education: What Future Historians Need to Know and History Departments Ought to Tell Them” (120) with the AHA Professional Division; and “Graduate Mentoring: Issues and Perspectives” (168).

On Friday, January 5, beginning at 5:30 p.m., 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. See the Program for additional events of special interest to graduate students.

— is the convention director of the AHA.

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