Thinking Historically about STEM
The Alchemist’s Experiment Takes Fire (1687). Hendrick Heerschop, Dutch. Oil on canvas laid down on board. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics rarely move in a simple line from one success to another. Thinking historically about STEM can help illuminate the course these disciplines take, including experiments gone awry. In this issue, we offer two historians’ views on what history can bring to the STEM disciplines, and vice versa. Image courtesy of the Chemical Heritage Foundation Collections. Gift of Fisher Scientific International. Photograph by Gregory Tobias.
Staff
Controversy Surrounds Department of Defense Commemorative Website
The Vietnam War and the stories that surround it have been controversial from nearly the moment American servicemen and women…
Beyond the “Seven Speak-Nots”
In 2012, when the Hong Kong government planned to implement “patriotic education classes,” thousands of students protested, and the plan…
The Earnings Potential of History Majors
The release of new data from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) has prompted fresh analyses of a…
Back to the Source
Collaboration between historians in schools and colleges has increased steadily over the last five decades, suggesting that it is a…
Rethinking Graduate Education in History: A Five-Year Assessment
In 2009 Drew University embarked on an experiment, what we called “a 21st-century model for graduate education in history” (see…
Facing “Muslims Killed Christians” and Other Challenges of Teaching the Middle East in Post-9/11 North America
Teaching the 1915 Armenian genocide in post-9/11 America is not an easy matter, and it should not be. Handled carelessly,…
The AHA Taxonomy Project, Part 2
In my September column, graced with a James Gillray cartoon of Napoleon and Pitt hungrily carving up the world, I…
Pathogens of the Caribbean
As this is my last column as an AHA vice president, it is high time I performed a public service.…
History Coalition Update
Despite the election-year lull in congressional activity, the National Coalition for History has been busy with activities supporting an important…
Doing History Digitally
Military historians are blessed. The object of their study, in the course of its daily existence, creates vast storehouses bursting…
On “Retirement as a Stage in the Academic Life Cycle”
To the Editor: I read with great interest Jan Goldstein’s essay on retirement in the October 2014 issue of Perspectives…
Susan Rita Schrepfer: 1941-2014
US Environmental Historian Susan Rita Schrepfer, professor of history at Rutgers–New Brunswick, died on March 3, 2014, after a long,…
Perspectives as a Public Forum
In April 2013, I used this column to share a hope that our readers would talk to us. I noted…
AHA Member Spotlight: Jennifer Guiliano
Jennifer Guiliano is an assistant professor of history at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, and has…
Historians at the Scene
Painful confrontations beset New York in the closing weeks of 2014. Protests unfolding peacefully across parts of the city in…
How Can I Be a Historian in This Job?
After making the decision to leave the confines of the AHA and my fellow history colleagues to take a job…
Time Check
As the week began on December 15, the headline story related to North Korea was the threat of terrorist attacks…
AHA Member Spotlight: David Komline
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
Mangiamo Tutti!
The AHA has arranged a series of exciting tours for annual meeting attendees this year in the historically and culturally…
Session of the Week: History and Biology: (What a) Wonderful World!
Sam Cooke’s classic R&B song aside, we know a thing or two about history, but how about biology? If those…
2015 Annual Meeting “Name That Cocktail” Winners Announcement
The results are in, and ready to be poured out! With over 100 respondents to our poll, the two clear-cut…
Taking the Long View on Cuban-US Relations at the Annual Meeting
Historians are uniquely qualified for the important social and educational job of putting current affairs into historical context. We do…
Last Chance to Pre-register for the AHA 2015 Annual Meeting
Time is running out to book your place at the annual meeting at our discounted rates. The deadline to take…
Member Spotlight: Andrea L. Turpin
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our talented…
AHA Hiring: Editor, Perspectives on History, and Marketing and Public Relations Manager
The AHA is pleased to announce two open positions, one for editor of Perspectives on History and the other for…
Session of the Week: Common Core
The Common Core State Standards Initiative seeks to establish consistent educational standards that ensure high school graduates are prepared for…
Sleepless in New York
Simone de Beauvoir once mused, “There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.” It’s lucky then…
THATCamp at the AHA Annual Meeting
We are delighted to announce that the AHA annual meeting will once again have an associated THATCamp on Tuesday, January…
Anecdotes of Annual Meetings Past
I heard a few stories while attempting to collect words of wisdom for this post (names have been changed to…
Malcolm X, the Oxford Union, and Casting Racial Discrimination in a Global Perspective
About a week ago, the Oxford University Press blog published a fascinating post by professors Saladin Ambar (Lehigh University) and Stephen…
Call for Lightning Round Presentations at AHA 2015
This year, the AHA is proud to present to our annual meeting attendees two lightning rounds. This presentation format can…
Exploring New York
So: you’re coming to New York City. Maybe for the first time; maybe the hundredth. However well you know the…
“The Real AHA”
In anticipation of the upcoming AHA 2015 annual meeting, we have compiled commentaries from attendees of previous meetings on their experiences. …
Session of the Week: Blogging and Scholarship
The weblog has come a long way since the primordial days of the Internet. Eventually truncated to just “blog,” this…
2015 Name that Cocktail Voting
Thanks to everyone who contributed a suggestion to the 3rd annual AHA “Name that Cocktail” contest. We aggregated our favorites and…
Conference Poster Google Hangout Video Online
Last week, in preparation for the poster sessions at our 2015 annual meeting in New York, the AHA hosted a Google…
Invitation to the AHA 2015 Reception for History Bloggers and Twitterstorians
To all historians who enjoy sharing research and ideas via social media, we cordially invite you to a reception for history…
AHA Council Issues Letter of Concern Regarding the New York Board of Regents Proposed Modifications to Exams
The American Historical Association submitted a statement this week on proposed changes to the New York State Board of Regents…
AHA Member Spotlight: Jeffrey G. Carter
AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. To recognize our…
Session of the Week: Interviewing in the Job Market in the Twenty-First Century
In an effort to highlight the diverse range of scholarship at the upcoming annual meeting, we’re featuring different sessions on…
Innovation in Digital Publishing
The Innovation in Digital Publishing in the Humanities session at the American Historical Association’s 2015 annual meeting in New York…