Dear AHA Members,

The Nominating Committee will meet in February to recommend two candidates for each of the following positions:

1. President-elect (by rotation, Europe).
2. Vice President, Teaching Division.
3. Councilor Profession, serving on the AHA Council and on the Professional Division, which deals with the rights and responsibilities of historians, professional conduct, the job market, data collection, membership, and professional service prizes.
4. Councilor Research, serving on the AHA Council and on the Research Division, which promotes research and new research tools, governs relationships with fellow professional organizations, establishes and awards research grants and fellowships, oversees the American Historical Review and the annual meeting, including appointing the chair of the Program Committee.
5. Councilor Teaching, serving on the AHA Council and on the Teaching Division, which supervises AHA educational activities and the Association’s educational publications, promotes history education, and encourages new methods of instruction and cooperation in the development of curricula and other teaching activities.
6. One member of the Committee on Committees, which names members to appointive committees, including book prize committees, standing committees, and grant and fellowship committees.
7. Three members on the Nomi­­nating Committee, which nomi­­nates candidates for all the elective offices and elective committee positions.

Recommending nominees to the Nominating Committee is one of the most significant ways members can affect AHA policy and administration. The process is open. When making nominations, the committee tries to secure representation of all viewpoints, backgrounds, and academic interests; all kinds of institutional affiliations; as well as unaffiliated historians and teachers at all levels of the educational system. In short, the committee aspires to have the Association governed by members as diverse as our profession.

To accomplish this goal, we need your help. Please propose yourself or any friends and colleagues who you believe can serve the Association in any of these positions. If you think the AHA has not adequately represented a ­constituency—as defined by type of institution, a type of history studies, or personal ­characteristics—then please make a special effort to bring ­potential candidates who will do so to our attention. If possible, submit a ­potential candidate’s CV and ask others to write in support. Even if you cannot find time to do so, the committee will take every recommendation very seriously and secure ­information itself. To help us do so, please send us the recommended person’s e-mail address if you can. Since the Nominating Committee (listed below) consists entirely of faculty from four-year institutions, we are particularly grateful for recommendations of people in parts of the profession where we have fewer connections of our own: public historians, community college teachers, K–12 teachers, etc. The same is true of recommendations for the graduate student slot on the AHA Council, since the grad students we know best—those at our own institutions—cannot serve as long as we ourselves do so.

The only restrictions are these:

1. A nominee must be a member of the Association. If you know good citizens in the profession who you hope will serve the AHA at some point, encourage them to join. You need not check on a potential ­candidate’s membership yourself; the committee can do that.
2. The AHA wants to avoid concentrating leadership positions in a few institutions. Therefore, for all open positions—with the exception of the president-elect—we will not nominate candidates from institutions that are already represented among officers and on elective committees. However, we maintain files of ­potential candidates recommended to us, so don’t let this stand in the way of your recommending someone for ­future consideration.

Please forward your suggestions as soon as possible (and no later than January 21), with any supporting material you can provide, to the AHA Nominating Committee, c/o Sharon K. Tune, 400 A Street SE, Washington, DC, 20003-3889; you may fax to the same ­addressee at 202-544-8307; or send an e-mail, with supporting material as attachments, to any of the committee members. Since the Nominating Committee meets partially over a weekend (Saturday), please provide home and/or cell phone numbers, if possible. All contact information will be considered strictly confidential and will be used for the sole purpose of reaching the potential candidate over the weekend. Please feel free to send general comments and make general ­recommendations about the Nominating Committee’s responsibilities to any of its members.

Sincerely,
2015 AHA Nominating Committee

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