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Message from the President
I’m pleased to announce that in May 2007 DHA officially became a nonprofit corporation in the state of California! In addition to allowing me to claim the exalted title of “CEO,” this means that we’re well on the way to legitimacy, and can now turn from laying the foundation to building the house. The next two years should be more interesting for members as we launch book and article prizes, work on a higher profile within the AHA, and do outreach abroad. To start, DHA is co-sponsoring North America’s first disability history conference in summer 2008 at San Francisco State University. It is a credit to the field that the conference has drawn proposals from across the English-speaking world.
Over the past nine months I have been working closely with the leaders of the AHA to establish a task-force on disability issues. At its June 2007 meeting, the governing council authorized funding for a committee that will consist of two DHA members and three from the Professional Division. We will meet over the next three years to make recommendations for the AHA to follow in changing the mood of the profession. I confess to glazing over whenever I hear the words “task” and “force” together, since usually the two terms contradict rather than complement one another; too often task forces put in hours of work that ultimately lead nowhere beyond lip service. But Anthony Grafton, the current head of the Division, assures me that these committees actually have some clout in the organization. Over the next couple years we will be soliciting member input about what you think would improve the history profession.
In other news, DHA will be updating its website and adding new features. At our recent meeting the DHA Board discussed creating sections where members could post syllabi and provide photographs and other materials for use in the classroom. As part of the redesign, we also plan to incorporate a way for members to pay dues online using Paypal. This will make it easier for people outside of the United States to join. We invite members to offer feedback about what features they would like to have included. We will, of course, be particularly mindful of access for screen readers and other assistive technologies. Since the website, like the organization, is a work in progress, we depend upon you to let us know how we’re doing.
If you would like to help out with web improvements, please contact Audra Jennings, our web person at: jennings.160@osu.edu. We are especially interested in finding websites that you think would serve as good models, either because of their design, their content, their mood, their ease of use, whatever. And if you have suggestions for features you’d like to see on the site, please let her know at your earliest convenience, since we’re already previewing candidates for redesign.
The DHA Board continues to feel strongly about having an organization that is international in scope. Our first formal step in this direction was to appoint Dr. Wendy Gagen to the Board. An energetic promoter of disability history in the UK, she brings an impressive background of research and teaching to our ranks. (See her profile below.)
Periodically, we will be looking for specific skills and input from members. Anyone interested in serving the organization should feel free to contact me. And your contributions to this Newsletter are always welcome.
Membership Renewal Time
At last year’s spring meeting, the DHA Board voted to handle membership dues on a calendar year basis. This means that it’s that time of year! You will be receiving an email shortly from our Treasurer, Lee Pennington explaining how to renew. Our dues are small, but your contribution helps lay the groundwork for our efforts to promote an exciting new scholarly field. The more members we have, the stronger the case we can make to the profession and the discipline. A growing membership base will also help our fund-raising committee make the case to donors for our book and article prizes. If you’ve been a lurker (or, more likely, if you know one, since lurkers usually skip over this part), please succumb to guilt just this once, and join!
This is an important and vital time for our organization, and I thank everyone for your continuing support and encouragement. It means more than you can ever know!
Sincerely,
Catherine Kudlick
President, and Editor-Provocateur
cjkudlick@ucdavis.edu