Vol. 42, No. 1, January 2013
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Notes from the Inside
Make a Difference through Service
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Notes from the Inside
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News from the Profession
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Upcoming Conferences, Meetings, and Events
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Job and Fellowship Announcements
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Member News
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From the HSS President: Making A Difference
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Article: The "Dinosaurs" Guide to Technology in the History Classroom
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Article: That Was Then. This Is Now
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Article: Reaching Beyond the Discipline
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Article: A Conversation with the American Historical Association's Jim Grossman, 4 October 2012
As recent messages to the membership have indicated, the HSS is trying to make better use of our many volunteers. Lynn Nyhart's "Making a Difference" piece in this Newsletter suggests ways that we will be trying to call on the diverse talents of our members. These calls for service represent a fundamental shift in the HSS, as we reach out to the entire membership. Although we have been fortunate that a large number of independent scholars have been willing to serve, HSS's committees have been dominated by those with strong ties to academic centers. And within that finite universe, there have been noteworthy representations from certain centers of learning (in the past six years, three presidents and two secretaries of HSS's Executive Committee were all alumni of Indiana University, a condition that prompted me to attend the 80th birthday celebration of Fred Churchill last month to try and figure out the magic of IU).
The Society is fortunate that its many volunteers choose to give their time to the HSS (in the case of the Executive Committee the commitment is measured in thousands of hours). But now as Lynn has so carefully explained, we are seeking to be more inclusive in our call for volunteers. We are grateful to those who have responded to our requests for help and ask for patience as we make the next step. That crucial step will center on us trying to accommodate those who have volunteered. The HSS's committee structure has been the traditional landing place for volunteers. So when we have asked people to help, it was usually with the idea of placing them on one of our six standing committees (Publications, Meetings and Programs, Education, Finance, Research and the Profession, and Honors and Prizes) or on one of our prize committees (Pfizer, Levinson, Davis, Reingold, Rossiter, Price/Webster, NASA, and Hazen). Making these committee assignments is difficult for Executive Committee members because we aim for institutional and research diversity on each committee and it is essential that the person assigned be a good team member, which means having some experience with an individual. And since the standing committee appointments range from two to five years and the prize and fellowship committees three years, we simply do not have enough slots for the many volunteers who step forward. That is why we are reimagining the process. The expansion of ad-hoc opportunities requires coordination and that requires time, but we hope to put in place a structure that will make best use of the generosity of our members, a process that reflects the value that we place on our members' most precious commodities: your time and talent.
Thank you for your membership in the HSS.
- Jay Malone, HSS Executive Director