We thought we’d pass along this opportunity, in case any of our members fit the bill and want to participate. It comes from our colleague Christy Snider at Berry College:

I’m organizing a roundtable for the 2013 AHA meeting in New Orleans tentatively titled: “Challenges Facing History Departments in the Twenty-First Century: Perspectives from Department Chairs.”

I have 3-4 chairs lined up from a variety of institutions (a small liberal arts college in the South, a national public university, a top 10 regional private university in the Mid-West, and a regional public university in the Mid-West).

Some of the issues we are considering discussing include:
the imposition of corporate-based models on departments – selling history as a product to student customers
performance-based departmental funding
free speech limitations, even at public universities
history in an environment that increasingly stresses “pragmatic” training and the delivery of student credentials
curriculum reform – threats and opportunities
the struggle to balance the demand for more teaching from tenure-track faculty members, with research requirements and one-on-one mentoring opportunities with students
technology – opportunities; overuse and unrealistic expectations; digital history
departmental assessment for accreditation
overall workload issues facing departments given the loss of tenure track lines
how history departments can translate what we do (both in teaching and research) to administrators that tend to like results based on specific, tangible outcomes

I would like to add one or two other department chairs to the roundtable. If you are interested in participating and can add some diversity to the panel in terms of institution type or subject matter, please email me (csnider@berry.edu ) before Dec. 27, 2011 with a brief description of your department (size, faculty composition (tenure-track/adjunct/etc.), a short explanation of your duties as chair and how long you’ve served in the position, and two or three different topics you would be willing to speak on at the AHA.

Thanks for your consideration,

Christy Snider

*******************************************************
Dr. Christy J. Snider, Chair
Department of History
5010 Mt. Berry Station
Berry College
Mt. Berry, GA
706-368-5652