The 116th annual meeting of the Association will be held in San Francisco, January 3-6, 2002. The Program Committee welcomes proposals from all members of the Association (academic and nonacademic), from affiliated societies, and from scholars in foreign countries and in related disciplines. In planning the program, the committee seeks presentations that address the entire community of historians and provide opportunities to examine the larger concerns of the profession. Panels focusing on research and teaching and on discussion of significant professional issues, rights, and responsibilities are welcome. Continuing the practice of previous years, the committee encourages the participation of established scholars and also requests, in particular, panels on time periods, regions, topics, and approaches that have been underrepresented in recent AHA meetings. As the last few meetings have indicated, those assembling panels and those attending them have found that comparative sessions have worked well both in stimulating discussion and attracting a diverse audience.

The Theme

The 2002 conference theme will be "Frontiers." The idea of the frontier has long been an imaginative source for American historians. We seek to extend its reach in a host of new directions, both spatial and theoretical. We have in mind the exploration of intellectual as well as geographical and physical frontiers; disciplinary frontiers are no more or less imaginary than those involving mountains or rivers. We see frontiers as evoking intellectual imaginings and explorings as well as a spatial awareness of surroundings and borders, and believe this topic will add greatly to our understanding of human effort and aspiration.

How have frontiers, whether spatial, national, or intellectual, influenced the evolution of historical studies? In what ways might the idea of the frontier encourage new collaborations, new approaches to the discipline of history? We hope to encourage our colleagues quite literally to open up the idea of the frontier, a project we believe to be workable across nations, topics, and methodologies. We also invite reflections on the history of frontiers (from Frederick Jackson Turner to the history of human invention and exploration) and on the impact of ideas of the frontier, whether physical, intellectual, spiritual, or however else imagined. Accordingly, we will give weight to panels that investigate this paradigm in various ways.

The Program Committee

The Program Committee for 2002 consists of Philippa Levine, chair (Univ. of Southern California), Paul Ropp, cochair (Clark Univ.), Timothy Burke (Swarthmore Coli.); Thomas Burman (Univ. of Tennessee); Deena Gonzalez (Pomona Coll.); Edward Larson (Univ. of Georgia); Sabine MacCormack (Univ. of Michigan); Louise McReynolds (Univ. of Hawaii); Gloria Sesso (Half Hollow Hills High School); Susan Deans Smith (Univ. of Texas at Austin); Barbara Clark Smith (Smithsonian Institution); Tyler Stovall (Univ. of California at Santa Cruz); David Trask (Guilford Technical Community Coll.); and Anand Yang (Univ. of Utah). An additional member of the committee, the cochair of the 2003 Program Committee, will be appointed this fall. The graduate assistant to the Program Committee is Joe Wright (Univ. of Southern California).

There is only one deadline for submission: February 15, 2001. Any proposal postmarked after that date will not be considered. The committee will consider only complete panels or workshops (those that include all presenters, chair, and commentator). Because there is only one deadline, single-paper submissions cannot be considered. Last year's experience showed that it is virtually impossible to find matches for single papers or form panels around them with the single, later deadline. There will be no "poster sessions."

The AHA has established a Panel Locator on its web site to assist members in finding suitable copanelists. The Panel Locator will be searchable via keyword and subject area, and may be accessed at http://www.theaha.org/annual/panels.

The H-Net lists are also a useful resource in finding other panel members; the web site is located at http://www.h-net.msu.edu.

Please consult the "Program Committee Guidelines" (page 52) when preparing a proposal, and be sure use the cover sheet on page 50 (or a photocopy). A cover sheet is mandatory for all submissions. Additional copies of all materials may be obtained from the AHA office with a request addressed to: 2002 Materials, AHA, 400 A St., SE, Washington, DC 20003-3889. (202) 544-2422, ext. 104. Fax (202) 544-8307. E-mail: aha@theaha.org. All materials may also be found on the AHA's web site. Go to http://www. theaha.org and then click on "Annual Meeting."

All persons appearing on the program must be members of the AHA, the exceptions being foreign scholars and scholars from other disciplines. Only in exceptional circumstances will individuals be allowed to appear consecutively on the 2001 and 2002 program.

Please mail four copies of the complete proposal (including the cover sheet) to Philippa Levine, Department of History, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034. Please mark your envelope "AHA 2002."

E-mail addresses for the cochairs are Philippa Levine: philippa@usc.edu and Paul Ropp: propp@clark.edu.