Category Archives: Officers

A headshot of Brian Creech

A Word from the Chair: January 2025

It’s early January and I am writing this column in the week following the passing of former president Jimmy Carter. It is the lull after the holidays, I’m prepping for the coming semester. The news is constantly on in the background, and I’ve been struck by a sentiment I’ve heard more than a few times as experts, journalists, political reporters and consultants, and friends of President Carter reflect on his presidency and post-presidency.

Often, they say something along the lines, “Jimmy Carter ended up being right,” and the reporter or interviewer will pause, ask what is meant by that, and there will be a few minutes’ discussion casting an event from the Carter presidency in a new light. It is a bit of a strange moment for a listener, to hear the notion that Carter was a failed president suddenly come up for reconsideration, as if the historical narrative told to us born after his presidency was suddenly up for revision.

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A headshot of Brian Creech

A Word from the Chair: November 2024

Greetings colleagues! It was so wonderful to see so many of you in Philadelphia, a city near and dear to my heart and our nation’s founding. The History Division is strong, and our research and teaching are more important than ever.

Though things have been quieter than during the conference flurry, we have been busy. Program Chair Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen has been pulling together a wonderful slate of panels; thanks to all of you who submitted ideas. The range of proposals engaged deeply with the 2025 conference host city, San Francisco. The call for 2025 will be live in the New Year, and keep an eye out for requests to review. Awards calls are coming together and we will be seeking nominees very soon. All of these activities persist thanks to the service from all of you, and perhaps the most valuable gift we can give the organization.

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2024-2025 Executive Committee

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

Notes from the History Division Business Meeting

Chair Rachel Grant (Florida) offered a welcome to the 35 members in attendance. Minutes from last year’s division business meeting were approved unanimously.

Leadership presented an overview of the division’s work during the past year: updating the AEJMC Community page for the division, maintaining the website minus a web administrator, continuing to expand international reach and membership, and celebrating 50 years of Journalism History, the division’s journal. There were no questions. Maddie Liseblad voiced the need for a website administrator.

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A Word From the Chair: Final Reflections

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. 

Rachel Grant is the outgoing chair of the Media 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.” 

A Word From the Chair: See you in Philadelphia!

Rachel Grant is the chair of the Media History Division

We are less than a month away from this year’s conference in Philly. So much work and dedication happened behind the scenes, and I want to thank all the executive members of the History Division leadership. I especially want to thank our vice-chairs Brian Creech (program chair) and Melissa Greene-Blye (research chair) for organizing our panels and research competition. Also, thank you to everyone who submitted and reviewed submissions. Our division has the most dedicated members who continue to help elevate the importance of historical research.

We have an exciting schedule this year and we have an included abbreviated schedule of all our division’s sessions in this issue of Clio. For a full schedule of AEJMC events, check out the program online.

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A Word From the Chair: It’s Time to Relax

Rachel Grant is the chair of the Media History Division

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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A Word From the Chair: Woman’s History Month, Feminism and My Father

Feminism is “the social, economic and political equality of ALL genders.” 

Rachel Grant is the chair of the Media History Division

A sign on my desk says, “Behind Every Great Man is a Woman Rolling Her Eyes.” So, to say I am a feminist is not surprising, to say the least, but it might be surprising to know that one of my strongest feminist role models was my father, Richard Grant. Whenever I attempted to use my gender as an excuse, he quickly reminded me, “You are a Grant and we can do anything.” All my extroverted tendencies came from my mother, but my confidence came from my father. As a young child, I would threaten the beautician that if she burned me with the hot comb I was going to tell “my Daddy.”

It was his goal and determination that my siblings and I were going to be fully-equipped members of society. This included knowing how to cook, cleaning/dusting, wash clothes, iron clothes, and sew on a button. So traditional gender roles didn’t exist within the household and every Saturday morning we all did a deep cleaning of the house. I say deep cleaning because my father served in the Air Force so clean wasn’t really clean to him. It was clean.

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A Word From the Chair: Shaping Archival Historical Truths

Rachel Grant is the chair of the Media History Division

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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A Word from the Chair: The Necessity of DEI in the Classroom and Beyond

Discussions about the state of mass media and U.S. history are continually contested — socially and politically. This often results in the removal of marginalized and disenfranchised communities from history, continuing the legacy of inequality that those historically oppressed groups know all too well. 

As a Black woman in higher education, I am continually reminded of the erasure of my multiple identities, but I also think of my ancestors’ struggle. That public erasure, while difficult, gives me a greater appreciation of how my family’s everyday lives connect to key moments in Black history. Therefore, I truly believe I am Black History.

Understanding the depths of colorism and white supremacy within Alabama, upon his white father’s death, my great-great-grandfather fled for his life to Parkdale, Arkansas to escape from his white relatives. 

Later in Little Rock, Arkansas,  my great-grandmother worked as a maid in the state Capitol building.

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