I’m writing this on the last day of exams, before graduation here at Lehigh, and am struck by just how much has happened this year. First off, my gratitude to a fantastic leadership team and to our membership for remaining a dynamic, supportive, and generally fantastic scholarly community.

As the summer starts, we usually spend time catching up on things, usually responsibilities, that need to be done. But, as you close the book on this year, I’ll ask you to start thinking about next year, and how you might like to give back to AEJMC, the History Division, and your broader scholarly community.

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Brian Creech (Lehigh)
Division Chair

Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen (Idaho)
Vice Chair (Program Chair)

Autumn Linford (Auburn)
Second Vice Chair (Research Chair)

Jason Guthrie (Clayton State)
Professional Freedom and Responsibility Chair

Bailey Dick (Bowling Green)
Teaching Award Committee Chair

David Mindich (Temple)
Book Award Committee Chair 

Matt Pressman (Seton Hall)
Senior Scholar Committee Chair

Elisabeth Fondren (St. John’s) 
Covert Award Committee Chair

Carolina Velloso (Minnesota)
Membership Committee Chair

Maddie Liseblad (Cal State Long Beach)
Publications Committee Chair

Lisa Burns (Quinnipiac)
Mentorship Program Chair

Alexis Little (Georgia)
Graduate Student Liaison

Rachel Grant (Florida)
Immediate Past Chair

The annual conference in Philadelphia was a success! I was extremely happy with the community and atmosphere of research, teaching and professional development in our sessions. Thank you to everyone who gave their time and support to the History Division. 

As the outgoing chair, I have enjoyed my time serving as a leader and truly appreciate everyone. We have had a great journey this year. I appreciate your willingness and dedication to our community. I know incoming chair Brian Creech will bring new perspectives and ideas to make the division better. His insight has always been helpful to me. Also, I am proud of Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen and Autumn Linford as they step into leadership roles. We are moving in the right direction, but society’s need for the understanding history’s impact is still a concern. 

We continue to see historical moments and events unfolding with our election season. Hopefully, this election will inspire new projects, panels and collaborations for next year’s conference in San Francisco. History is meant to be chronicled and studied. I end my last chair column with the same words I wrote in the first one— “I encourage our members to explore aspects of diversity, inclusion, and equity — not only in their work but also from the framework of social justice as an everyday practice.” 

The end of a school year always comes with a mix of emotions. As educators, some of us have faithfully entering grades throughout the semester and others are scrambling to catching up on grading. Fortunately, I think two emotions we all tend to experience is the proud feeling of watching our students graduate or land that job. Then, there the moment of relief knowing that the chaos is over. 

As the conference inches closer, I want to be the first to congratulate the many award winners in the history division: 

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As historians, much of our work and contributions to academia are focused on our use of archives. We rely on archives to find evidence of forgotten pasts, strengthen our understandings of identity, and enhance our theoretical frameworks. Archival research has the power to connect more people to our wider collective memory while broadly reimagining history for the current times. 

  Despite the vital importance of archives as historical chronicles and resources, the truths they house are being erased for the sake of politics. Recent attacks on the education system deeply affect how we teach and for underrepresented individuals, affecting how they exist on campuses in a climate that often denies their identity and presence.  Because we study history, we have seen this happen time and time again, and we know the consequences of these decisions.  

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