PPIA Program in Public Service – Free 4-Day Conference

IU-program-logo-NO-quote-1-1024x397Do you want to explore your future in public service? Apply to attend a free 4-day weekend conference just for college students who want to move the world forward! Motivated students from diverse backgrounds will gather at Indiana University, October 23-26, 2014, to learn how they pursue a career, or get a degree, in public service. They’ll hear from renowned thinkers and leaders in public service, participate in cultural and recreational activities on the beautiful Bloomington campus, and meet new friends from across the country.

Application Deadline June 30, 2014.

For more information, see this link.

Student Opportunity: Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association

7836425514_83f9fe6a85Interested in seeing the leading conference for professional historians up close? UMW’s History and American Studies Department is sponsoring students to attend!

The event is the American Historical Association‘s Annual Meeting, which is happening in Washington, DC, January 2-5, 2014.

The conference website introduces the event, complete with a full program schedule.

Among our faculty, Dr. Fernsebner and Dr. McClurken will both be presenting in sessions, and other department faculty, including Dr. Poska and Dr. O’Brien, will also be in attendance.

We’ll be happy to meet up with students at various points and provide some basic orientation to the conference itself (the all-important book exhibit, the various sessions, and even a peek at the interview space where PhDs are applying for jobs).

The Specifics:

1)      We’ll cover the cost of registration for the conference which takes place mostly at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington DC.

2)      We can underwrite the cost of local travel (e.g., VRE/Metro or car mileage from Fredericksburg to DC).  We will also help coordinate travel to the conference with other students.

3)      We can’t cover the cost of hotels, so either students will have to cover that themselves, or do a day trip (or trips if you go multiple days).

4)      Since it is before school starts, if you don’t live in the DC/Fredericksburg area, we also can’t cover travel to the area or hotel.

The department will likely sponsor 3-6 students going and we’ll want to coordinate which days of the conference they’ll attend to try to make it a bit more convenient for everyone.

How to Apply:

If you are a department major and are interested, first contact a faculty member in the department to endorse your application.  Simply talk to a faculty member who knows you and your work and agrees to be listed in the application.

Then, fill out this brief application:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bAcrKA1aQ-gcpB1aAxvUXERWncKraDj8MkktTTwmf8M/viewform

If you have any questions about the process, contact Dr. Jeffrey McClurken at jmcclurk [at] umw.edu.

Image: cc licensed photo by Paul Arps

 

 

Students and Faculty Present Papers at OHMAR Joint Meeting

Professor Jess Rigelhaupt and three history students, Josephine Appiah, Kelsey Matthews, and Kendall Simonpietri, presented papers at the joint meeting of the Society for the History in the Federal Government (SHFG) and Oral History Mid-Atlantic Region (OHMAR) on April 4, 2013. The panel, “Rosie the Riveter Revisited: Oral History, Digital History, and Memories of the World War II Home Front,” was based on work from Professor Rigelhaupt’s fall 2012 oral history course. The panel discussed the public history website, rosietheriveter.umw.edu, that was built as part of the course and students presented research based on their interviews. Professor Rigelhaupt presented a paper on teaching oral history. Dr. Lu Ann Jones, a historian with the National Park Service served as the commentator.

Professor Rigelhaupt introduces the panel.

SHFG/OHMAR-Panel Introduction, “Rosie the Riveter Revisited” from UMW History on Vimeo.

Josephine Appiah, “Reevaluating Our Cultural Understanding of World War II”

SHFG/OHMAR – Appiah, “Reevaluating Our Cultural Understanding of World War II” from UMW History on Vimeo.

Kelsey Matthews, “A Personal Perspective: Oral Histories of the World War II Homefront”

SHFG/OHMAR – Matthews, “A Personal Perspective: Oral Histories of the World War II Homefront” from UMW History on Vimeo.

Kendall Simonpietri, “Not Everyone’s Rosie: Different Reactions to the Interview Process”

SHFG/OHMAR – Simonpietri, “Not Everyone’s Rosie: Different Reactions to the Interview Process” from UMW History on Vimeo.

Jess Rigelhaupt, “Born Digital: Teaching Oral History to Create Public History”

SHFG/OHMAR – Rigelhaupt, “Born Digital: Teaching Oral History to Create Public History” from UMW History on Vimeo.

Commentator and Audience Q & A

SHFG/OHMAR – Q & A from UMW History on Vimeo.

Researching the History of Baseball? A Conference and Call for Abstracts…

See below for a call for conference participation in an event to celebrate the history of one baseball franchise, the New York Mets, which will be hosted by Hofstra University next April. For full details and contact information, see the original announcement here.

April 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of the New York Mets, one of the most popular and culturally significant baseball franchises.

On Thursday through Sunday, April 26-28, 2012, Hofstra University will host a conference to consider all aspects of the history and culture of the team. This will be the first multidisciplinary conference to consider every aspect of a Major League Baseball franchise.

Expected participants at the conference will include current and former members of the Mets’ organization; baseball executives, journalists, broadcasters, and analysts; baseball scholars, historians, and cultural critics; and writers, artists, filmmakers, cartoonists, bloggers, collectors, and fans.

Presentations will be accepted on the basis of 300-500 word abstracts submitted by December 1, 2011.

Possible topics include: The Origins of the Mets; The Roots, Myths and Evolution of Mets Fandom; Defining Individuals in Mets History; Mets Icons, Symbols and Mascots; The 1969 Mets Season: How It Happened, What It Meant to People, and How It Survives as a Cultural Metaphor; The Mets in Subsequent Eras; The Mets and Queens; The Mets and Long Island; The Mets and New York Baseball; The Mets in Film; The Mets in Literature; The Mets and the Culture and Politics of New York City; Mets Broadcasting; Mets Journalism; Famous Fans; The Mets and New York’s Ethnic and Cultural Communities; Defining Moments in the History of the Mets; Mets Controversies; Shea Stadium; The Mets Blogosphere; The Pleasures and Perils of Professional Baseball in New York; and Covering a Baseball Team in the Unique Media Environment of New York.

Call for Papers – Phi Alpha Theta Honors Society Regional Conference

Members of the History honors society Phi Alpha Theta are invited to participate in the 2011 PAT Regional Conference at Virginia Wesleyan College at Norfolk / Virginia Beach, VA. The event will be held on Saturday, March 26, 2011. The final deadline for paper submission and registration is Friday, February 18th; fees are due one week earlier.

If you are interested in participating, please contact our UMW Phi Alpha Theta advisor, Dr. Susan Fernsebner (sfernseb [at] umw [dot] edu) and submit your registration fee to her by Friday, February 11th.

See below for full details:

2011 Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference
Saturday 26 March 2011

At Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk/Va. Beach, VA

Paper submission, Registration and Fee Payment Deadline: Friday February 18, 2011

Virginia Wesleyan College is proud to host the 2011 Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society VA Regional Conference. We invite PAT members from all VA campuses to submit graduate and undergraduate papers on any topic of history.  Papers submitted (four copies plus completed registration form, please) by the February 18 deadline will be judged by historians outside the state for awards in Graduate and Undergraduate divisions of World, European, and United States History. Papers submitted to be judged may be of any reasonable length; however, by the time of the conference students must refine and edit their papers into a 20 minute presentation, which equals about 10-11 typed, double spaced pages when read aloud. Each of our conference rooms is equipped with computer, projector, and Video/DVD technology for those who choose to use it.

A registration fee of $25 and a completed registration form (attached) must accompany four copies of each paper submission.   The registration fee helps us provide morning snacks, a buffet luncheon, an honorarium for the keynote speaker, and prizes for all our student winners.

Detailed travel and lodging directions to follow.

Dr. Clay Drees
Department of History
Virginia Wesleyan College
1584 Wesleyan Drive
Norfolk, VA 23502–5599
cdrees@vwc.edu

Undergraduate Research Opportunity – Posters on the Hill

In the Spring of 2011 the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) will host its 15th annual undergraduate poster session on Capitol Hill. This event will help members of Congress understand the importance of undergraduate research by talking directly with the students whom these programs impact.

As one student-participant has noted,

As one of this year’s (2010) participants in CUR’s Posters on the Hill, I want to express my gratitude. I never thought when I started this little project called the Earth QUEST that it would provide me the opportunity to travel to Capitol Hill to present my work and speak to a congressman’s legislative assistant! It’s all thanks to the work and merit of organizations like CUR. I admire the work your organization does, and my trip to D.C. has opened my eyes to the future of education. After reading up on the America COMPETES Act, the STEM education initiatives, and what CUR does, I hope to one day be a part of something as valuable. — Sara Neville, Penn State University, Brandywine Campus

CUR is calling for students to submit an abstract of their research that represents any of CUR’s disciplinal divisions (Arts and Humanities, Biology, Chemistry, Geosciences, Health Sciences, Mathematics/Computer Science, Physics/Astronomy, Psychology, and Social Sciences). Each abstract should explain the work that was performed and discuss the importance of the work to society (i.e., what larger problem were you trying to solve or understand?).

For more information and an online submission form, see http://www.cur.org/postersession.html

Note that recent graduates can also participate as long as their research was completed as an undergraduate during the 2008-2009 or 2009-2010 school years.

The University of Mary Washington is an institutional member of CUR.

Deadline: November 15, 2011

Kings College – Georgetown University Global History Forum

Georgetown University, together with King’s College, hosts a forum entitled “Empires and Globalizations in the Making of the Modern World” this Thursday and Friday (9/16-17) at the Copley Formal Lounge at Georgetown University.

If you’d like to attend, see this link for a full schedule and further information.