On behalf of the Nominating Committee, I am pleased to report the results of the 1993 election for AHA offices. (Elected candidates are indicated with an asterisk.)
Total Ballots Processed 3,709
President (one-year term)
*Thomas C. Holt, University of Chicago (African American; 19th-c. U.S.; U.S. South; Caribbean) 2,817
President-elect (one-year term)
*John H. Coatsworth, Harvard University (Latin America, esp. Mexico and Central America; economic and social; international) 1,815
Temma Kaplan, SUNY, Stony Brook (comparative women’s; 19th- and 20th-c. and cultural history of Latin America, South Africa, and Spain; race and gender) 1,642
Vice President, Research Division (three-year term)
Donald J. Raleigh, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Russia and Soviet) 1,309
*William G. Rosenberg, University of Michigan (Imperial Russia and Soviet) 1,766
Council Members (three-year terms)
Place 1
Martin Duberman, Lehman College and Graduate School, CUNY (19th-c. U.S.; African American; gay and lesbian) 1,250
*Walter F. LaFeber, Cornell University (America) 2,224
Place 2
*Leslie Brown, graduate student, Duke University (American social and political; African American; women’s; documentary studies) 1,534
Scott Sandage, graduate student, Rutgers University (19th-c. U.S. social and cultural) 1,505
Division Members (three-year terms)
Professional
*Reid Andrews, University of Pittsburgh (Latin America; race relations; comparative) 1,625
Louis A. Pérez Jr., University of South Florida (national Latin America) 1,398
Research
Werner L. Gundersheimer, Folger Shakespeare Library (early modern Europe) 1,473
*Patricia M. King, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College (archives; oral; U.S. women’s) 1,712
Teaching
Anne Chapman, Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio (European social; women’s intellectual) 1,387
*Doris Meadows, Wilson Magnet High School, Rochester, N.Y. (American Progressive Era) 1,540
Committee on Committees (three-year terms)
Place 1
*Geoffrey Parker, Yale University (early modern Europe; military; world) 1,756
Peter Stansky, Stanford University (modern Britain) 1,468
Place 2
*Kathy L. Peiss, University of Massachusetts (United States, 1880–present) 1,526
Virginia Scharff, University of New Mexico (U.S. social; cultural; women’s) 1,503
Nominating Committee
Place 1 (three-year term)
*José Cuello, Wayne State University (colonial Latin America and Mexico; U.S. Southwest; Mexican immigration to the U.S.) 1,639
Neil F. Foley, University of Texas, Austin (Chicano borderlands; U.S. South and West; ethnicity) 1,259
Place 2 (three-year term)
*Lizabeth Cohen, New York University (American) 1,631
Jane S. de Hart, University of California, Santa Barbara (20th-c. United States; U.S. women’s) 1,466
Place 3 (three-year term)
Nancy E. Fitch, California State University, Fullerton (Europe, 1650–present; women’s; theory and methods) 1,277
*Sarah C. Maza, Northwestern University (18th-c. France) 1,722
Place 4 (one-year term)
Hal S. Barron, Harvey Mudd College (U.S. social, 1790–present; rural) 1,423
*John Wunder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (U.S. legal; American West; Native American; social) 1,561
The total number of ballots cast was 3,709, more than 200 over last year. Seventy-nine ballots arrived after the November 1 deadline and could not be counted. Survey and Ballot Systems, Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, scanned the ballots and tabulated the results. Only seventeen ballots needed to be handcounted. Some voters registered their opinions about the candidates, and the committee will review these criticisms and comments at its next meeting in February 1994.
The nine members of the Nominating Committee met in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, February 18, and adjourned before noon on Saturday, February 20, 1993. The committee’s deliberations were cordial but spirited. In recent years, the committee has been concerned that nominees represent the diversity of the membership. Though this is a daunting task, we contributed not only generally by attending to gender, race, region, type of institution, field, and rank, but specifically by nominating two providers of library and archival services to fill a position on the Research Division and two graduate students to fill a position on the Council. The committee is especially pleased to bring representatives of the AHA’s large graduate student constituency into the leadership of the organization. We were gratified that so many of those we asked to stand for election did so with enthusiasm. Two candidates had to withdraw after the conclusion of the February meeting, and new candidates were selected via telephone consultation. When we discovered potential candidates who were not members of the AHA, we asked the executive director to contact them directly to expand the diversity of the membership and the pool of leadership possibilities. In addition, we asked the Council to continue its efforts in aggressive recruitment of diverse constituencies, particularly those historians working in K–12 and community college classrooms, in historically Black colleges and universities, in small liberal arts institutions, and in libraries, archives, and museums.
The committee raised several issues for the Council’s consideration, and we were pleased that AHA President Louise A. Tilly invited the committee chair to consult with the Council at its May meeting. First, we wanted to make clear that the Council’s codification of the rotational pattern for the presidency did not mean that a scholar who worked in fields other than American or European history could be nominated only every five years. In addition, following the pattern of recent years, we gave special attention to candidates with strengths in more than one regional/national area or with broad thematic concerns.
We also asked that the Council consider changes in the process of selecting nominees for the Awards for Scholarly Distinction. These are among the most highly prized awards granted by the AHA, and we did not feel that our committee could give sufficient attention to the selection of honorees in the same forty-eight hours during which we were compiling a full slate of candidates for elective office. While passing responsibility for these awards on to another committee, we also asked that the Council consider deleting the phrase, “and have been exemplary role models to the profession,” that was added to the selection criteria last year. Though we agree the Awards for Scholarly Distinction should take into account more than simply an individual’s record of publication, the standard of exemplary role model seemed difficult to define and implement in practice.
In closing, let me express the committee’s deepest gratitude to AHA executive associate Sharon K. Tune for her tireless efforts and good humor in facilitating the work of the committee. I would also like to thank those who served with me over the past three years for their warm collegiality and hard work, and particularly Gary Nash and Pete Daniel, who provided exemplary role models as chairs of the Nominating Committee.
Nancy Hewitt
Duke University
Chair, 1993 Nominating Committee