In a September 2 article, Steven Pearlstein, a business and economic writer for the Washington Post and the Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University, asked us to "Meet the Parents Who Won't Let Their Children Study Literature." Pearlstein discusses a trend toward pre-professionalism on college campuses. According to the author, "some of the brightest students . . . had been misled - by parents, the media, politicians and, alas, each other - into thinking that choosing English or history as a major would doom them to lives as impecunious schoolteachers." This trend has continued despite evidence that the unemployment rate for recently graduated humanities majors was not significantly different than those for other disciplines. See https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/09/02/meet-the-parents-who-wont-let-their-children-study-literature/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.3f044fc90453.

Those of us working within the academy deal with these myriad challenges on a daily basis, but presumably for most ASEH members, the humanities remain an essential component of an excellent college education.  Undergraduate history degrees do not doom our students to the ranks of unemployment; moreover, the American Historical Association has laid out fundamental reasons for studying history. "[H]istory offers a storehouse of information about how people and societies behave. . . Major aspects of a society's operation, like mass elections, missionary activities, or military alliances, cannot be set up as precise experiments. Consequently, history must serve, however imperfectly, as our laboratory, and data from the past must serve as our most vital evidence in the unavoidable quest to figure out why our complex species behaves as it does in societal settings. . . The second reason history is inescapable . . . [is] the past causes the present, and so the future. . . Only through studying history can we grasp how things change; only through history can we begin to comprehend the factors that cause change; and only through history can we understand what elements of an institution or a society persist despite change." See https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/archives/why-study-history-(1998).

At the same time, we must acknowledge the difficult job market facing graduate students in the humanities, including the field of environmental history. Recognizing those realities, ASEH established a mentoring program some five years ago. The objective is to assist students and early-career scholars in environmental history with professional development and engagement. In this program, mid-career or senior scholars, including professionals from outside the academy, counsel graduate students or post-graduates who received their degree (PhD, MA, and JD) within the past five years. 

In 2016, we had 18 mentor-mentee relations. The mentor does not try to replicate the role of the dissertation adviser. The mentor does not address the fine points of the mentee's scholarship. Rather the partnership provides the mentee with a sounding board in environmental history, an important source for career advice and information on professional advancement. In some cases, the mentor may be able to facilitate contacts for the mentee.

In the past, the program focused on the annual conference where the mentor and mentee could meet in person. While we still believe that this face-to-face interaction is important, in 2017, the program will incorporate the entire year. We trust the mentors and mentees to outline the appropriate parameters of these relations so that no one is unduly burdened by his or her participation.

ASEH strongly encourages its members to join the mentoring program. If you are an experienced scholar, please consider this service as a way to share the wisdom of your years. If you are a junior scholar, please take advantage of a unique opportunity to expand your professional horizons. International participants are welcome. For more information, click here.

And I am particularly pleased that the newly organized Women's Environmental History Network (WEHN) has identified mentoring as one of its priorities and plans to promote ASEH's mentoring program through its own activities.

WE NEED YOU! Thank you for being a part of ASEH and for considering this important program.

Kathleen Brosnan, ASEH President - kbrosnan@ou.edu

This is the second year that ASEH has offered summer internships to grad studlents interested in environmental history projects and careers outside the university. See below for summaries of the 2016 projects.

National Parks Research

Rachel Lanier Taylor, grad student, University of Washington

Robert Lifset's book Power on the Hudson: Storm King Mountain & The Emergence of Modern American Environmentalism (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014), was awarded the 2016 Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in New York History by the New York Academy of History.

Edmund Russell has moved from the University of Kansas to Boston University, where he is a professor in the Department of History. Ed is now Vice-President, with responsibility for the Research Division, of the American Historical Association.

Conevery Bolton Valencius takes up a new position September 2016 as Professor of History at Boston College, but is spending 2016-17 as a Research Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is working on a new projects on earthquakes and energy in the United States.

Congratulations to the following ASEH members, who recently received American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships:

Samuel Dolbee - Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Doctoral Candidate, New York University, "The Locust and the Starling: People, Insects, and Disease in the Ottoman Jazira and After, 1860-1930"

George Charles Halvorson - Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship., Doctoral Candidate, Columbia University, "Valuing the Air: The Politics of Environmental Regulation from the Clean Air Act to Carbon Trading"

Brian G. Lander - Luce/ACLS Collaborative Reading-Workshop Grant in China Studies, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, "Administrative Documents from the Three Kingdoms State of Wu Excavated at Zoumalou, Changsha"

For more on ACLS fellowships (and deadlines), see:

https://www.acls.org/programs/comps/

Call for Papers: "The Great Plains: An Environmental History"

Kathleen A. Brosnan and Brian Frehner, Principal Investigators and Editors

We solicit papers for a NSF-funded, interdisciplinary workshop (May 2017) and edited volume that explore the environmental history of the North American Great Plains and redefine the region and its environmental history by exploring how technological adaptations have shaped the history of this environment and the people who inhabited it.  Submissions should emphasize one or more of the interrelated themes of water, grasses, animals, and energy.  Technological adaptations can be defined in the broadest sense. We encourage proposals that emphasize the role of native people in shaping regional environments. Please submit a 300-500-word paper proposal and a short c.v. by September 30 to kbrosnan@ou.edu and frehnerb@umkc.edu.For additional information, see http://history.publishpath.com/greatplains-cfp. 

The ASEH Graduate Student Caucus is proud to announce its first blog series, "Seeds: New Research in Environmental History." The series is co-sponsored by Edge Effects and the Network in Canadian History and Environment-NiCHE. Its goal is to highlight the research of ASEH grad caucus members. For a few years, graduate students at caucus meetings have suggested building more opportunities for publication. Participants in the 2016 caucus meeting agreed that it would be fruitful to collaborate with existing online publications. A committee led by Jessica DeWitt helped bring that to vision to fruition. "Seeds" serves to highlight new work in environmental history and connect this research to other fields and contemporary issues. Writers were asked to respond to the following question: "How does your work push at the boundaries of current literature and add to existing discussions of environment/environmental history? What forces drive your research?" NiCHE and Edge Effects published the first two posts--"Sliding Down the Timber Chute: the 1901 Royal Tour of Canada," by Liz Cavaliere and "Finding Longleaf Pine in American History," by Stacy Roberts - in August and September. Readers can follow along with the monthly series here.

While "Seeds" is currently scheduled out through April (thanks to our enthusiastic contributors), there are opportunities for paired postings. Topics we are recruiting for include HGIS, agriculture, and indigenous history. ASEH caucus members interested in contributing to the series can be in touch with Jessica DeWitt at jessicamariedewitt@gmail.com.

Call for Papers for ASEH 2017 Writing Workshop

The Graduate Caucus is pleased to announce its call for participants for the 5th annual Graduate Student Writing Workshop to be held at the ASEH annual meeting in Chicago in 2017. Selected writers will join in small discussion groups with other graduate students and a faculty mentor to workshop pre-circulated pieces of writing. These small working groups will be organized by type of material - thesis/dissertation proposals; conference papers; journal articles (including Gallery submissions); and thesis/dissertation chapters. Please note that a 15-20 maximum page limit will be enforced. Applicants are invited to present their most current work.

The purpose of the Graduate Student Writing Workshop is to provide a forum for graduate students in environmental history to develop their writing and research skills. Guided by the faculty reader, each participant will read and comment on the work of fellow participants. The workshop will emphasize all aspects of the writing process, from cultivating the first germ of a project, to chapter organization and revision, to shaping proposals and abstracts. Groups will be encouraged to discuss writing style, voice, and mechanics, as well as practice how to get and give good feedback. Confirmed faculty participants include Eve Buckley, Andrew Case, Finis Dunaway, Catherine Dunlop, Stephen Pyne, and Kendra Smith-Howard.

To apply, submit a one-page (double-spaced) summary of the work that you intend to bring to the writing workshop. Note in your application the subject matter of your work as well as the format and potential audience. In addition to the one-page summary, include a one-paragraph bio indicating your research agenda, educational affiliation, and current contact information. Applications should be sent via email to Anastasia Day (aday@udel.edu). The deadline for applications is December 1, 2016. Please note that, if accepted, the final version of your work must be submitted to your faculty reader and fellow participants no later than February 27, 2017.

Graduate Student Liaison Position Available

ASEH's Graduate Student Caucus invites applicants for the position of Graduate Student Liaison to the Executive Committee for the year 2017. ASEH will provide the recipient with a $500 USD travel subsidy to attend the ASEH annual meeting in Chicago in 2017. Attendance at the executive committee meeting (Saturday, April 1) is required, as is consulting with graduate students and the graduate student caucus throughout the year. The term of the position runs from January 1 to December 31, 2017.

To apply for this position, please submit a one-page statement describing your interest in this position, including information regarding previous participation in ASEH activities and/or leadership and service experience. Please also submit a short CV (maximum three pages). Applications should be sent via email to Rachel Gross, current ASEH Graduate Student Liaison (rsgross@wisc.edu). The deadline for applications is November 18, 2016.

Please note that to vote in this election one must be a current member of the ASEH Graduate Student Caucus. Membership in the caucus is simple: to join please send a statement of interest to the current liaison at rsgross@wisc.edu. Also note that graduate students can apply for both the liaison position and an ASEH travel grant, but they can receive only one to travel to the 2017 conference.