The Working Group on the Future of the AHA will be meeting at the end of this week, so this would be a good time to offer your thoughts on where you think the AHA (and by extension, the profession) is headed.

Bill Chafe’s article in this month’s Perspectives goes into more detail about how the committee will work, and what they hope to accomplish. In brief, we know the AHA can and should do a better job representing the interests of history, but too often we spend our time reacting to problems—getting the Directory or Perspectives off to press, dealing with this threat from an IRB, or that attempt to sell off access to a piece of the past. Ideally, this committee will try to look past the short-term problems and chart a way ahead for the AHA. But it is a small committee, relying heavily on input from members and nonmembers alike to help it accomplish its tasks. So they really do need to hear from you.

Please feel free to write me, Robert Townsend, with any thoughts or suggestions on how we might improve the AHA and better serve your interests, or come to the open forum the committee will be holding at the AHA annual meeting on Friday January 5, from 12:00 to 1:30 in the Forsythe Room at the Atlanta Hilton.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.