Blog CC (200): Honors to the Blog...Again

A note worth making.  Last week's posting set a "In the Service of Clio" record for the most postings in one year.

Look for a flurry of commentary in the next few weeks as the blog returns to active duty.

Blog CXCVI (196): Honors to the Blog

A couple of events transpired in the past few weeks on this blog that are worth noting.  In April "In the Service of Clio" set a record with 10 postings in one month.  That broke the record of seven that was set in December 2010 and then matched in January and November of 2011. In June that record got broken again.  This posting is the twelfth in the month.

The second thing worth noting, over the previous two years, the number of postings on the blog waned.  Each was a new low: 23 in 2013 and 11 in 2014.  This year, though, we published the thirty-fourth post on June 18 with Blog CXCII (192): Sarantakes vs. Canary.  In short, in this past month we surpassed the total for all of last year.  When combined with the other entries made this year, this month took 2015 over the top for the total of the last two combined.  That was the original goal when this year started.

We are not even close to being done, though.  There is a lot in the pipeline.  It will slow down a bit this summer as I work on my next book project, but more is coming on a lot of different topics, and given what is currently planned we should set a new record for postings in a year.

Stay tuned.

Blog CXCV (195): Hall of Fame

The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky has a Hall of Fame.  My adviser for my MA thesis, George C. Herring, Jr. was inducted into this organization as a faculty member.  (The Hall inducts people in two categories: faculty and alumni).  "The Chief" is now a professor emeritus, but he has hardly slowed down.  The fifth edition of his book America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 was released in 2013.  If you are going to read only one book on that war, then it should be this one.  I can remember exactly when and where I was when I read the book for the first time: I was shivering under a dinning fly in wet, 50 degree weather in June of 1988 during Ranger training in the Baldy country of the Philmont Scout Ranch, Cimarron, New Mexico.  I remember thinking it ironic that I was reading about a jungle war on a wet, clammy day.  Needless to say, the book played a huge role in me deciding to become a diplomatic historian.

Herring is the dean of scholars writing on the Vietnam War, but he has many other achievements to his name.  He was the president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and was editor of the journal, Diplomatic History.  He supervised dozens of graduate students at the MA and Ph.D. levels.

The main focus of this blog is career management, but on this occasion, we will take some time to honor a distinguished scholar.  Below is a video that Arts and Sciences made about Herring for his induction:

Blog CLXXVIII (178): Honors to the Blog Again

Yesterday this blog celebrated a milestone: it had viewer number 100,000.  As I stated before,there were days when I wondered if I was only person reading my postings.

This blog started about three years before it went on-line. In the spring of 2006, I gave a talk about career management issues to the grad students in the history department at the University of Southern Mississippi, where I was a visiting professor.  It was a talk I had been wanting to give for years.  Later in July and August of 2006, after I had moved and taken a new job, I sat down and wrote a series of essays on things I had learned since I had graduated as a professor about the history profession and how it works. Since I was trying to write two books at the time, these essays sat on my hard drive for the next two and a half years.

A lot has changed in the six years I have been running the blog.  A lot in my personal life and a lot at work—all for the good I might add.  I ran through the early posts before the end of 2009 just as "In the Service of Clio" was starting to find an audience.  I still wonder at times if this is a wise investment of my time.  The three part essay “The History Ph.D. as a Novelist” (Blog CII, and Blog CIII and Blog CIV) took nearly 40 man hours worth of work to produce.  I am currently trying to write or finish three different book projects—the one on which I am under advanced contract is taking priority—but how much time this blog should get is a legitimate concern.  Needless to say, I appreciate all the visits.

Now, lets blog.

Blog CLIX (159): Honors and Infamy to the Blog

Every once in a while, it is interesting to take time to see how people are reacting to "In the Service of Clio."  In her blog, "From PhD to Life," Jennifer Polk is treating me as a major...well, perhaps "important" is a better word...voice in calls for reform of the academic job market, or at least in regards to the history Ph.D. "I don’t know the answer to Saratakes’s question about 'how this ends.' What I do know is that a major attitude adjustment is called for, alongside serious reforms to graduate education." Since Polk is a career coach, she might know something about career management. That quote refers to Blog CXXXVII: Tell Me How This Ends?

On the other hand, Allen Ruff and Steve Horn, journalists working in Madison, Wisconsin, do not think much of grand strategy programs and sees it as part of the military-industrial complex. They have a long essay on Ruff's blog that explores the grand strategy network entitled: "Serving Empire: Grand Strategy at the Long War University." In it they state: "Currently serving the national security warfare state, a matrix of closely tied university-based strategic studies ventures, the so-called Grand Strategy Programs, have cropped up on a number of elite campuses around the country" Ruff and Horn add: "The network marks the ascent and influence of the Long War University." The post is long, but hardly says anything analytical. The 2010 “Workshop on the Teaching of Grand Strategy” that I wrote about in Blog LVIII: A Teaching Workshop is referred to as a "Long War University Homecoming." This posting on "In the Service of Clio" is cited as a source for this essay.   The two note: "The NWC retreat might best be described as an imperial war hawk’s 'how-to' teach-in." Ruff and Horn, however, do not do much other than quote the titles of our sessions. It is all very "right-wingy." 

I found the essay amusing more than anything else.  If you read my account, it was not a very exciting gathering.  We talked about teaching.  What books we use.  Issues like that.  While Ruff's blog had a neat look to it with a black background, I was disappointed that neither I nor most of my NWC colleagues were mentioned by name.  (One person from the Strategy Department made it in the post).  I guess I am not one of the "cool kids" in the network.  Bummer.

Guess, I better get back to blogging about history.

Blog XCV (95): Another View of the AHA

Jason Knoll, teaches social studies at Verona Area High School in Verona, Wisconsin.  I met him earlier this year when he asked me to speak to some of his students attending the American Historical Association meeting in Boston.  No problem,  A month later Knoll published "A High School Teacher at the Annual Meeting" in the February 2010 issue of Perspectives on History.  I stumbled upon because he mentioned me in the article, but it is more interesting because of his take on the AHA annual meeting.  I reproduce it for your information:  

I’ve been a member of the AHA since my years as an undergraduate student, but I never went to an annual meeting until this year. What made my first trip to this massive gathering of historians even more memorable was the fact that I brought five of my AP European History students with me. The trip was an overall success: we sat in on five sessions, saw some of Boston, and walked away with a handful of books.  I picked my students by holding an essay contest in my AP European History class. I estimated the cost of airfare and the hotel and had them talk to their parents before writing the essay. Once their parents gave their approval, 17 students wrote an essay arguing why I should take them with me. The only information that I gave them was the theme of the meeting and the web address of the AHA. I did not give them my rubric beforehand so that they would not merely write to the rubric. I scored them on three criteria—their passion for history, what interest they have for the theme, and why they would benefit from the trip. The five best essays were written by young women.


Once I gained approval from my school board, I had to determine which sessions we would attend. I had two objectives—they had to fit into our curriculum and they had to hold the interest of high school students for two hours (after all, what we as historians might find interesting may not necessarily be so for others). I narrowed the list of sessions to around 15, told them which ones I thought would be most beneficial to them, and then let them as a group decide on the specific choices.


Since my students’ typical view of a historian was that of professor, we attended the session on Thursday about the various other careers in history—archivist, preservationist, curator, instructor or historian for the military, and documentary editor. They walked away with a newfound interest in what they could do with a degree in history.


The highlight of our trip came on Friday morning when we attended the session about Carlos Eire’s latest work, A Very Brief History of Eternity. My students and I all read and discussed the book so that we could attend the session, understand the panelists, and even perhaps ask questions. Prior to our departure for Boston, I e-mailed Professor Eire about our plan and asked if he would do us the honor of having lunch with us after the session. Much to my surprise, he replied that he would be delighted to do so. My students were able to follow along with the first two panelists’ comments, although they (and I) struggled with the third panelist’s arguments dealing with space and time (I think). We lunched at Au Bon Pain (since we don’t have those here in Wisconsin), and proceeded to have a very pleasant conversation with Professor Eire. He was extremely personable and answered all of my students’ questions with humility and understanding.


We spent Friday afternoon walking the Freedom Trail and then returned to our hotel to get ready for the receptions. We first attended the reception hosted by the National History Center. It was fairly obvious that we were not the usual attendees for the annual meeting, but the historians at the reception were actually quite welcoming to my students. Two people in particular (that I saw, although there could have been others) were very interested in what my students thought about the meeting—James Banner of the NHC and Marian Barber (Univ. of Texas). Since all of my students were young women, I thought it would also be appropriate to attend the reception hosted by the Coordinating Council for Women in History. Sandra Dawson (NIU), the executive director, took some time to speak to my students about the role of the Council and the two co-sponsors, the Peace History Society and the Committee on LGBTQ History. We ended the night by moving to the reception hosted by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. One of the panelists from the session on careers in history, Nick Sarantakes (Naval War College), spent a considerable amount of time talking to my students about majoring in history and the uses of a history degree. He even gave them his card and told them that if they ever had any questions about history to e-mail him; this had a tremendous impact on my students.


Saturday was our busiest day, with three sessions and the screening of the film, The Conspirator. Our first session was about the public uses of history and the global war on terror. It was interesting to hear the various arguments made by the panelists. More importantly, however, I felt it was important for my students to hear the calls for historians to be more involved in public discourse and to understand how policymakers and government officials have misused history. The midday session covered the various issues and topics in teaching genocide. As a teacher, I found it useful, but again, I thought it was a good opportunity for my students to learn about the issues that teachers deal with when teaching. Finally, we attended the lecture on military history by Gerhard Weinberg about myths of the Second World War. Although the students were a bit exhausted mentally, they were still enthused about listening to one of the world’s eminent historians. We parted ways after the lecture, with the students going to the film screening, while I went to the reception hosted by the Conference Group for Central European History. The students thoroughly enjoyed the film. Additionally, at one point during the night they rode in the elevator with Florencia Mallon (Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison). She was extremely pleasant towards them and took an interest in their experiences at the meeting. My time at the reception proved to be a great time for networking, although as a high school teacher I felt a bit out of place. I ended up, however, having pleasant conversations with Francis Raška (Charles University, Czech Republic), Eric Weitz (Univ. of Minnesota), and Marion Berghahn (Berghahn Books).


On Sunday, we decided to skip the sessions and walk through the exhibit hall one last time. The vendors were nice to us, although I was surprised at how expensive some of the books were. I was, however, able to pick up some exam copies of books for a new course, The History of American Foreign Policy, as well as my AP European History class. Afterwards, we took a trip out to Harvard and rubbed the foot of John Harvard. I wanted to see the history department, but unfortunately, the doors to Robinson Hall were locked.


I definitely count the trip as an overwhelming success. But I did leave with an uneasy sense of a disconnect between secondary school teachers and “professional” historians. Some people seemed to be surprised that I was at the AHA. Is it that shocking for a high school teacher to be at an annual meeting of historians? Such perceptions will perhaps disappear if the AHA can do more to promote high school teachers as historians and encourage their participation in the annual meeting. Of course, this cannot be accomplished by the AHA alone. Colleges, universities, and even secondary school teachers themselves have to play significant and important—and collaborative—roles in such a movement.


However, a sign that such desirable changes are possible lies perhaps the fact that many historians treated my students and me with kindness and respect during our stay in Boston. I specially thank them. I plan on attending the annual meeting next year and hope to rekindle some of the conversations I began this year.

Blog XCI (91): Honors to the Blog, Part V

When I started this blog, I had some concrete ideas on things I wanted to say.  I figured I would say them, and then be done with the project.  All told, I figured it would take a year. Three years later, I am still at it, and the reaction to "In the Service of Clio" was not quite what I expected.  (For example, I have learned more about Roman numbering than I expected).  For the first eleven months of this blog, I was not sure anyone else was reading what I was posting.  Then, it "exploded."  The explosion is a relative thing, though.  My three year total for number of visitors is equal to the number of visits I generated in two months for a website I began in graduate school.  The quality of those visits is a different thing altogether.  The blog resulted me being part of an AHA conference panel, and through several different inputs I have learned that important movers and shakers in the history profession are reading this blog.

Every once in a while I like to take a moment to collect the tributes to this blog.  This effort might be a bit of an ego message, but working on this project has been time consuming and feedback helps in many different ways.  Some entries have taken over 120 man hours to put together.  That is in addition to my regular teaching responsibilities, the writing and publishing of two (soon to be three) new books, and the regular obligations that one has when you have a family and a house.   

Last week another small honor came my way.  I was quoted--extensively as it turns out--in The Guardian, a British newspaper.  The article "Careers for PhDs Beyond Academia; Traditional Academic Jobs are in Short Supply, but Anyone with a Doctorate has Skills they Can Take Elsewhere" written by Matthew Patridge appeared in the Friday, August 12, 2011 issue.  My views will not come as a surprise to regular readers of the blog, but I learned some things from the article about alternative employment and I hope you will as well:

Much attention has been paid to the problems graduates face in finding jobs in the current economic climate. However, spare a thought for PhD students who, especially in the humanities and social sciences, may be in an even worse position. At the heart of the problem is the adverse effect of the government's cuts on universities, traditionally the primary destination for newly-minted doctorates.

"The academic job market is extremely tight … even postdoctoral researchers and lecturers are starting to contact us about alternative careers because they are worried about their employment prospects," says Terry Jones, a careers adviser with the Careers Group, University of London.

The problem of PhD students unable to find academic jobs is a global one. Military and diplomatic historian associate professor Nicholas Sarantakes, who runs In the Service of Clio, a blog about career management for historians, predicts that "the job market is going to get worse for PhDs over the next five years. Graduate programmes are overproducing each year and the surplus is getting bigger and bigger. At the same time, colleges and universities are downsizing their faculty and increasing their workloads. Supply is increasing at the very same time that demand is decreasing".

Sarantakes is keen to encourage students to consider jobs slightly outside traditional academia, such as working as librarians. Indeed, he teaches officers at the US Naval War College. Overall, he says: "There are many different jobs that will allow them to write and research and then make the transition to a faculty position. Creative thinking is a requirement for professional advancement and there are a number of places where a PhD can work and still make contributions to their field."

Jones agrees, and believes that part-time lecturing, or teaching individual courses, can help students gain contacts they can then use to win more permanent academic positions later.

Opportunities also exist for work in the private sector. Global talent broker MBA & Company, which connects firms of all sizes and across the world with experts, currently has 286 PhDs on its books. One example is Homayoun Dayani-Fard, who has a PhD in computer science from Queen's University in Canada, and has done work for a range of clients in the financial sector, including Coutts. The PhDs are a small proportion of the 6,500 people MBA & Company represents, but founder Adam Riccoboni says: "It's an area we're seeing more growth in."

Riccoboni, author of a book Buy Me!: 10 Steps to Selling Yourself Every Time, believes there are several steps that those with doctorates can take to make themselves more attractive to potential employers. In particular, he believes it is important to combat popular negative stereotypes of PhD students as verbose, individualistic and lacking emotional intelligence.

For instance, he suggests that students emphasise the communication abilities honed while giving presentations on their research. They should take advantage of the global economy and consider a wide geographical range of employers.

Jones agrees that negative perceptions can hold job-seekers back. "Although I don't want to generalise …many employers question the commitment of those who have spent seven or more years in academia," he says.

However, he thinks that this is unfair: "In reality, research students are constantly chasing deadlines and thinking on their feet … every new line of inquiry is in effect a mini-project."

Because of this, Jones believes that those job hunting need to make it clear that they have general skills as well as subject-specific knowledge.

Sarantakes's advice is very similar. "The PhD holder needs to emphasise skill-sets obtained from the degree: writing ability, foreign languages, research skills and an ability to set long-term goals and meet them," he says. "Those are the kind of skills that banks, news publications, law firms and advertising agencies can use."

However, he remains concerned that professors and supervisors are still giving the impression that students will automatically get an academic job, "because that is what they did and that is what was done before them".

So far three people have responded to the article on The Guardian's website. Their comments are as follows:

2011: worst year to start a Ph.D. ever. Dont do it. Please.

The next one highlights some issues specific to British academia. While these issues are unique to the UK, there are very similar factors at work in the USA:

The article highlights humanities and social science postgrads, but even in the "hard" sciences the output of PhDs greatly exceeds the availability of academic jobs. In my (physics) department, noone would ever suggest otherwise to the students. The vast majority of them do go on to good jobs; whether they might have done better starting 3/4 years earlier without the PhD is hard to say.

One important measure or research excellence of a department in the forthcoming research assessment exercise is (and was in all previous ones) the number of PhDs awarded. So we are expected to encourage students to do PhDs, whether it is a good idea for them or not.

The third commentator took difference with the second:

As a recent science PhD who is not particularly hopeful about academia - It would have been worse for me to get a job after my first degree. Not for the money (which would have been better), but because I would have been denied the chance to study a subject I love for so long. It's trite to say so, but most PhD holders are not in research for the money.

Blog LXXVII (77): Honors to the Blog, Part IV

I know people are reading the blog, the little ticker on the right side of the screen tells me so, but every once in a while people actually write about this blog, which makes me feel good. Recently the website: selloutyoursoul.com, which is about leaving academia, had an exchange in which the webmaster of the site, quoted a letter to him that had several nice things to say about "In the Service of Clio." Here is a section from that post, which quotes the letter:

"One my favourite blogs is 'In the Service of Clio' (http://sarantakes.blogspot.com/). Nick Sarantakes, a diplomatic historian at the U.S. Naval College, discusses the historical profession and career management. He essentially walks potential students through the process: applications, grad school, career planning and publishing. He features different experiences through guest posts from those within and without the tenured system. There was a lengthy series discussing adjuncts. He has also looked at alternative career options for historians and recently presented at AHA on 'Careers in History: The Variety of the Profession.'

"As a recent history grad, who has just applied for a master of strategic studies, this blog not only deals with the painful reality of academic life but also discusses the
discipline’s problems and encourages students to look outside academia. One of my favourite posts
(http://sarantakes.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-xlix-debate.html) is a string of emails in his department discussing whether a student should pursue a Ph.D in international affairs.

I agree with one professor’s statement, 'In the current market, I would not recommend seeking a Ph.D. at any but the best programs because the top five or so programs already produce enough Ph.D.s to fill all the available openings each year. True, you could go to work for the government, if you have marketable skills (foreign languages are crucial), but then why get a Ph.D.? Under no circumstances does it make sense to fund the program yourself, with work or loans or whatever–that is almost a certain road to poverty.” I couldn’t put it better: if there’s full funding and career prospects, grad school might make sense; if not, don’t waste your life.'"

While this is directed at PhD’s the same goes for a Master’s degree. If you love the subject, then go for it. But realize that it is a personal journey, not a career investment. If you like, you could take 50,000 dollars and tour Europe, and then find a job in a few years. Resume-wise, it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. I am being ironic, but not too far off base.Short answer, the money and time won’t pay a big enough return in your career. Do it to learn, but just remember that you will be in the same position career-option wise with a BA as you would be with a MA or PhD. Lots of school, but no skills in a specific industry.

Sorry to be such a negative voice.

James
from Selloutyoursoul.com

Blog LXVI (66): Honors to the Blog, Part III

This blog continues to perform its mission in ways large and small. The people at AHA headquarters continue top appreciate the work done here. The "What We’re Reading" section of the blog referenced "In the Service of Clio" on December 9, 2010: A number of history departments have been king to this blog and have recommend this site as either a link on their website or on the page that their library staffs maintain for their history majors. These schools include: Ambrose University College, Temple University, University of Memphis, the Villanova University public history program, Villanova University, the Intute consortium (a combination of seven British universities: University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Nottingham, and the University of Oxford), Kean University, Miami University, and Tulane University.

In December, 2009 Michael Creswell had his essay “Navigating the Graduate Admissions Process" published in the American Historical Association's newsletter, Perspectives on History. This article originally appeared as a "guest column" for "In the Service of Clio" back on April 16, 2009 as Blog VI. It has become something of a hit. A number of departments are linking to this essay on their web sites. Although these links are to the AHA's site rather than this blog, it is still a recognition for the work that this blog is doing. These history departments recognizing Creswell include the ones at: American University, Florida Gulf Coast University, University of North Carolina, Maxwell School of Syracuse University, Rhodes College, Taiwan Historian Network, University of South Florida, Florida State University, Texas Tech University, California State University at Fullerton, Park University, and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Blogger.com is providing statistics for blog operators. According to their charting, which only goes back to May of this year, this blog has had an international audience. The map below documents some the origins of many visitors to this blog:

Blog LXI: The AHA is Coming Nicholas Evan Sarantakes gears up for the AHA’s 125th Annual Meeting and for session 3, “Careers in History: The Variety of the Profession,” profiled earlier this week on AHA today, and which he will be participating in.

According to their statistics, most of the visitors come from the United States, but they are coming from many other places as well:

• United States 5176
• United Kingdom 737
• Netherlands 614
• Germany 47
• Canada 44
• India 278
• Russia 256
• Turkey 126
• Latvia 84
• Ukraine 43

Blog LII (52): Honors to the Blog, Part II

This blog led to a recent development that I want to share with its readers. A few months ago, I was asked to be part of a proposed panel at the 2011 meeting of the American Historical Association. Last week the program committee informed us that they had accepted our session: "Careers in History: The Variety of the Profession." The meeting will be held in six months (January 6-9, 2011), in Boston, Massachusetts.

The focus of this panel will be as on using your Ph.D. when you cannot get a job in a conventional history department. The other panelists are historians who have found employment at different types of institutions. In addition to myself, these individuals will include Steven Luckert of the the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jim Taylor of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Kevin Allen of the State Library of Massachusetts, Aaron W. Marrs of the Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of State, and Robert Kane of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

Since this AHA session will be discussing many of the issues that I have tried to examine with this blog, I would like to invite all of you to attend. This panel will be far more productive if we have interested people. So please come, tell your friends, and share the news with your professors and mentors. This session has the potential to be very interesting--and informative, but it will depend almost entirely on the type of audience in attendance.

Blog L (50): Honors to the Blog

In a New York Times article on the high failure rate of blogs, one person joked, “There’s a joke within the blogging community that most blogs have an audience of one.” There were days when I wondered if that was the case with this blog, but I feel that it is now achieving in a small way the mission I set out for it in 2009. Today I am going to take a few minute to document this success.

There are a number of ways to measure its effectiveness. First, and foremost, is the number of people following the blog: 103 people are following the blog either through Facebook or through the mechanism that Blogger/Blogspot provides. I feel a real sense of gratitude towards all of you.

Next, a number of history departments recommend this site as either a link on their website or on the page that their library staffs maintain for their history majors. These schools include: Ambrose University College, Temple University, University of Memphis, the Villanova University public history program, Villanova University, the Intute consortium (a combination of seven British universities: University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Nottingham, and the University of Oxford), Kean University, and Miami University.

In December, 2oo9 Michael Creswell had his essay “Navigating the Graduate Admissions Process" published in the American Historical Association's newsletter, Perspectives on History. This article originally appeared as a "guest column" for "In the Service of Clio" back on April 16, 2009 as Blog VI.

On February 11, 2010 Jim Broumley wrote a lengthy essay in his blog "The Roving Historian" about a flattering essay about "In the Service of Clio," even if he had some out of date information about my employer:

In Greek Mythology, Clio is the muse of history. Therefore, “In the Service of Clio" is what historian Nicholas Evan Sarantakes has titled his blog. I have been following this blog for several months now and enjoyed it so much that I went back and read every post in it. In the Service of Clio is a good read for those who have considered taking on the challenge of obtaining a doctorate in history. The benefit for the rest of us is seeing what there is to do in the field of history other than teaching on the university level.

Dr. Sarantakes is a military, diplomatic, and political historian who is the author of several books and multiple published articles. He has his Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and is currently an associate professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. What is unique about his blog is that he has “guest bloggers” post articles concerning a career in academic history and the state of the profession. In the earlier postings on his blog, Dr. Sarantakes has discussed some alternate employment options for Ph.D.s in history. In the last couple of months, the subject is the budget strategy taken by universities to hire cheaper adjunct professors over more costly tenured positions and what effect that has on the job market in that field.

The bottom line is that there are too many Ph.D.s for the number of university teaching jobs available. That drives down salary and benefits, as it would in any profession. I hate to sound like my dad here, but a couple of old adages used to fly around my house, as I am sure they did in most of yours. The first piece of advice is to “do what you love and the money will follow.” The other thing dad used to say was “Whatever you do, be the best at it and you’ll always have a job.”

The best example I know of these wisdoms in action is my friend John. We met in the masters program at Shippensburg. We have a lot in common and I have a great admiration and respect for him. John retired from the army and is better read on the Civil War than anyone I know. The job market for MAs in history is as tight and pay is as low as it is for Ph.D.s. Nevertheless, John started the program knowing what he wanted to do when he finished. He wanted to work for the National Park Service and be a ranger at one of the Civil War Battlefields. While still pursuing his masters, John interned with the NPS. He networked and he studied the job market. Today, John is leading tours at Gettysburg Battlefield. I wonder if he knows how really amazing that is. Do what you love and the money will follow. Be the best at what you do and you will always have a job. Livin’ the dream. Way to go, John!

On February 23, 2010, the blog "Goose Commerce" run by an anonymous graduate student made this observation:

Finally, Nicholas Evan Sarantakes’s In the Service of Clio, updated regularly, offers non-depressing first-person profiles of historians working outside of universities.

On April 1, 2010, historian Lyndsey S. Brown wrote on her blog "The Wynds of History":

Nicholas Sarantakes provides a very useful answer to the question What is Public History?

On April 1, 2010, the American Historical Association recommended the site in its daily summary of web sites and blogs important to the historical profession. Here is what they said, including reproducing a small typo that I have since corrected:

XLVI: The History PhD as Public Historian The often thorny problem of defining just who is a public historian and where they are employed is taken up by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes at In the Service of Clio.

Brett Holman of the University of Melbourne maintains a blog called "Air Minded: Air Power and British Society, 1908-1941," which he uses to discuss his dissertation and historical issues. He wrote:

Finally, an inspiring blog I recently discovered is Nicholas Evan Sarantakes’ In the Service of Clio, which is aimed at providing advice to history graduate students on the subject of career management. It’s all there, from choosing a university, to conference strategies, to having a life. For me, the best posts are the numerous guest blogs from people who got their PhDs and then got jobs, mostly outside traditional academia. So it can happen.

One of his readers responded to that posting:

I have been encouraged to write as much as possible as that is, as you say, very important. I too have found Nick Sarantakes’ blog interesting. So many different avenues to consider.