We are pleased to announce the establishment of an Early Career Member category, to assist junior members of the profession in their transition from graduate school into long-term employment in the profession.

For years now, younger members of the Association have chafed at the doubling of dues when they switch from student to regular member, and quite a few have indicated they had dropped their memberships as a result. To encourage sustained membership in the Association, the new category will provide an incremental step on the path toward sustained membership—rising from the student rate of $39 to the transitional rate of $50 for the first three years after leaving the student membership category.

At a time when any number of historical organizations are competing for historians’ limited membership dollars, we hope this will provide early career professionals with the resources and information they need to ease the transition from student to a long-term career in the discipline—while doing so at a price they can afford. For historians just starting out in the profession, the Association’s publications and web site provide the latest news and trends in the discipline; resources on teaching, publication, and tenure; and the Archives Wiki. Membership in the Association also supports networking opportunities at the annual meeting, letters of introduction to research institutions, annual meeting sessions that address career development issues, research grants, prize opportunities, and much much more.

As always, we welcome your thoughts and ideas about how we might improve the membership experience for historians and aspiring historians at all stages in their careers. Please feel free to comment here, or write to us directly.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.