January 6, 2011 Meeting

At its meeting held on January 6, 2011, the Council of the American Historical Association reached the following decisions:

• Approved the minutes of the June 2010 meeting, as well as the minutes of other online votes and discussions in 2010.

• Approved the selection of 2011 Honorary Foreign Member.

• Accepted the annual audit report for the fiscal year 2009–10.

• Approved a slate of appointments from the AHA Committee on Committees for 2011 (the list will be published in the March issue of Perspectives on History).

• Granted affiliated society status to the Business History Conference.

• Approved a change in the composition of the Committee on Affiliated Societies.

• Approved a new protocol for the Council to vote by e-mail.

• Approved a Professional Division statement of best practices on “Academic Hiring: Phone/Video Interviews.”

• Approved a minor revision to the Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct.

• Formally accepted the John Richards Prize in South Asian History (to begin in 2011).

• Approved a revision to the annual meeting guidelines to permit the same individual to serve as chair and commentator.

• Approved revisions to the criteria for the Herbert Baxter Adams and Paul Birdsall prizes, replacing exclusionary citizenship requirements with a requirement that all books submitted be published in English.

• Endorsed the Oral History Association’s Principles and Best Practices for Oral History.

• Approved a modification of the annual meeting press policy to implement guidelines for bloggers and representatives of other online media.

January 9, 2011, Meeting

At its meeting held on January 9, 2011, the Council of the American Historical Association made the following decisions:

• Approved the following memorial resolution for the late David J. Weber (Southern Methodist Univ.), who served as vice president of the Professional Division from 2008 to 2010:

  • Whereas David Weber revitalized the study of the Spanish or Mexican borderlands;

  • Whereas Professor Weber brought into common enterprise scholars in the fields of Latin American history, early American history, Western American history, Native American History, transnational history, religious history, colonial history, intellectual history, and the history of race relations;

  • Whereas, in the Clements Center at Southern Methodist University, David Weber created an institution that has advanced the study of history and encouraged and guided countless young scholars;

  • Whereas David Weber’s service as the Vice President of the Professional Division of the AHA met the highest standard for leadership, loyalty, thoroughness, and commitment to the well-being of his fellow historians;

  • Whereas David Weber was, in the phrasing of one fellow scholar, “el maestro de las inmensidades,”

  • Therefore the Council of the American Historical Association now recognizes and celebrates the lasting legacy that David Weber and his work have left to his profession and to this Association.

• Agreed to work with the California History–Social Science Project on its History Blueprint project.

• Approved the nomination of Paul S. Sutter (Univ. of Colorado at Boulder) and John R. McNeill (Georgetown Univ.) as co-chairs of the 2013 Program Committee.

• Approved the nomination of Craig E. Colten (Louisiana State Univ.) as chair of the 2013 Local Arrangements Committee.

• Approved the establishment of an ad hoc committee to guide the Association’s development of a new internet infrastructure. The members of the committee will be appointed later by the president.