Doing History at Small Liberal Arts Colleges: A Conversation with the AHA’s Newest Working Group

AHA Session 265
Sunday, January 5, 2025: 3:30 PM-5:00 PM
Gibson Room (New York Hilton, Second Floor)
Chair:
Lauren Brand, American Historical Association
Panel:
Melissa K. Byrnes, Southwestern University
Ernesto B. Capello, Macalester College
Edward Cohn, Grinnell College
Jessica Lynne Pearson, Macalester College

Session Abstract

Doing history at a liberal arts college can be a distinctive experience. Our work involves high teaching and service loads. We are by necessity generalists, often teaching beyond our expertise, with a commensurate high level of pedagogical, curricular, and scholarly experimentation that deserves greater attention from the field at large. But it can also be an isolating experience, with relatively few opportunities for SLAC faculty to form a greater sense of community across institutions and to discuss issues of common concern at a national level.

This session, sponsored by the AHA’s Working Group on Small Liberal Arts Colleges, aims to spark dialogue about how to build community among SLAC faculty while creating new structures for liberal arts college historians to communicate with each other and the rest of the field. The session will include brief presentations by the working group's leaders and by participants in its activities, but will focus on a conversation on directions for future programming. In the interests of community-building, we’ll proceed to an informal social event immediately after the session.

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