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:
Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Video. Show all posts
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Blog CXCIII (193): What I Do
The American Historical Association started an interview series called "What I Do." Representatives of the Association have interviewed historians that are using their Ph.D.s outside of traditional academic venues. This series is featured on both the organization's web site as well as its YouTube channel. The videos below and their captions are taken directly from these locals and are provided to give readers of this blog some more ideas on how they can use their degrees outside of a traditional academic venue.
Rachel Reinhard talks about her role as the director of the University of California, Berkeley History-Social Science Project, which serves, she says, "as a bridge between the university and K-12 classrooms, and to support the professional development of K-12 instruction."
Carol Geary Schneider speaks about her role as president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and how she uses her background in history to further the AAC&U's mission: advancing and strengthening liberal education.
LuAnn Jones talks about her role as a historian in the Park History Program, and how she uses her background in oral history to train and teach in a variety of interdisciplinary settings.
John A. Lawrence sits down for an interview and talks about his time on Capitol Hill and how a historian's training helped him see what's really important, in any environment.
Lincoln Bramwell, Chief Historian, U.S. Forest Service, discusses his career path, which began as a volunteer firefighter alongside his graduate degree work, never imagining that these two interests would ever combine. He describes his daily work at the Forest Service and the surprising ways in which he was able to bring his training in history and passion for firefighting together at the Forest Service.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Blog CXC (190): The History Ph.D. as Archivist
Today's entry is the return (again) of "The History Ph.D. as..." series. This entry comes from the blog of the U.S. National Archives. On Wednesdays, the National Archives blog runs a feature called "What Are You Working On Wednesdays." This feature profiles various individuals working for the National Achives. This series is worth visiting, because NARA archivists do a lot of different work, come from a number of different academic fields, several have Ph.D.s, and are spread out all over the country. NARA might be a real option for the history Ph.D.
This profile is of Mitch Yockleson who holds a Ph.D. from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. He is the author of Borrowed Soldiers, Americans Under British Command, 1918. (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008) and a biography of Douglas MacArthur and another on Ulysses S. Grant. He also is an adjunct professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and has his own web site. (The photo and youtube video below are from the original post on the NARA blog.)
This profile is of Mitch Yockleson who holds a Ph.D. from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. He is the author of Borrowed Soldiers, Americans Under British Command, 1918. (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008) and a biography of Douglas MacArthur and another on Ulysses S. Grant. He also is an adjunct professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and has his own web site. (The photo and youtube video below are from the original post on the NARA blog.)
What is your name and title?
Mitch Yockelson, Investigative Archivist with the Archival Recovery Team.
Yockelson at his desk in College Park, MD.
Where is your job located?
Primarily at Archives II, but I do a lot of work at Archives I and even in the field at the presidential libraries and the regions as well.
What is your job in a nutshell?
I look into NARA’s lost or theft of historical items, things such as documents and artifacts from presidential libraries or regions. This can include everything from films to acetate recordings, documents, photographs, anything that we hold that we know is missing. They perhaps never came to the National Archives because some agency never gave it to us, or things that are reported as being stolen that we know we had.
Its tough recognizing a document that we may not have realized was missing, but luckily with the government being the bureaucracy that it is, agencies usually marked most documents with some type of unique filing system. For example, the War Department would register pretty much every document that came in up to a certain period and give it a unique marking that included the year. So we can go and look at registers that will tell us that the document was indeed in the custody of the government, but it doesn’t necessarily tell us that NARA had it at some point.
We also do a lot of outreach for these items. Besides having a Facebook page, and a Missing Documents page, we go to a lot of collector’s shows and set up tables with facsimiles of things we know have been taken, and we talk to the public and try to generate their help. Mostly Civil War shows, we’ve been to Gettysburg, PA and Richmond, VA; we’ve even been to Tennessee and Ohio.
(To view a transcript of the video, click here.)
What are you working on right now?
There are a lot of things we’re working on right now, the big one broke recently in the news. One of the other things I’m working on right now is an Abraham Lincoln signed document. It’s a neat document because it’s from the Civil War period, and shortly after the Battle of Antietam, and it’s the president trying to get an endorsement for a surgeon general to help with one of the Union Army hospitals that’s overwhelmed with casualties.
What makes this interesting is that we have no proof that it actually came to NARA, but we do have the remainder of the files that are a part of the War Department records that are downtown in DC. The document has file markings on it that match up to file markings for a collection of documents that we already have. So we know that it was in the collection at one point, but we don’t know when it became alienated, which could have been as early as 1864. We are trying to work to get this document back and marry it up with the rest of the records. It could have been stolen; we don’t really know. But we would like to get it back.
How long have you been at NARA? Have you worked at any other NARA location?
I’ve been with NARA since 1988 (22 years!), but I’ve only worked in the DC area at Archives I, Archives II and Suitland.
What has changed since you started at NARA?
I think the biggest frustration with my job is that we don’t have the subject area specialists that we used to. NARA used to be more compartmentalized as far as our holdings went. It was kind of like a university setting where if you wanted to do research in diplomatic records, you had a whole team of people where that’s all they did was diplomatic records. Because of cutback and how we go about handling our records and how we reference them, we don’t have the subject are specialists anymore. Sadly, this makes things difficult not only from a researcher’s aspect, but also from someone who looks into the investigations that needs the help of our subject area specialists who are now far and few between.
Do you have a favorite day at NARA, or a favorite discovery or accomplishment?
My favorite day was when I transferred from the reference branch and started working here in this new exciting world of investigative work. That was coming up on my four year anniversary, in November of 2006. I’ve taken up golf in the past few years, and I love music; I have satellite radio, which I listen to all the time. I also really just enjoy the passion of history: visiting historical places, traveling, and writing books and articles about history. I’ve written a book about the First World War, which is based on my PhD.
What is the last book you read, or the last book you loved?One final note, the case that Yockelson referred to in this interview ended up with a retired NARA employee going to jail and got a lot of national media attention:
The last book I finished was written by a guy named Robert Wittman, and it’s a memoir called Priceless. The author worked for the FBI and recounts his work on finding stolen art and their related cases.
Friday, June 5, 2015
Blog CLXXXIX (189): To Have and Have Not
One of the things that people did not like about the "Systematic Inequality" study that ranked history departments was that it shined a bight light on the fact that there are some big divides withing the profession between the "haves" and the "have not so muchs" and that very, very few people qualify as the "haves."
This video is an excerpt from a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians on April 17, 2015 that focuses on the divide where it really matters: $$. (That is pronounced as "ka-ching.")
The video begins with a question posed by Patty Limerick of the University of Colorado, Boulder and the president of the OAH. In the video, the comments of Donald W. Rogers of Central Connecticut State University and Katherine Ott of the Smithsonian Institute focus on income disparities between tenure track and adjunct faculty. Basically, tenure track types make a solid, middle class income, and adjuncts make much less despite their education.
There is a lot that could be said on income disparity. This video is hardly the last word, but it is a good place to start.
This video is an excerpt from a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians on April 17, 2015 that focuses on the divide where it really matters: $$. (That is pronounced as "ka-ching.")
There is a lot that could be said on income disparity. This video is hardly the last word, but it is a good place to start.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Blog CLXXXVIII (188): Some Other Channels
Many scholarly organizations have a presence on youtube.com. In fact, looking in the channel search engine using the term "history" produces thousands of results. Many of these institutions and associations are organizations that regular viewers of this blog might find useful. They range from museums and archives to the History channel and publishers. Blocking off an hour or two to look at the various offerings might be time well spent for a good historian.
Given the diverse interests of the people that follow this blog and the fact that "In the Service of Clio" has the mission of focusing on career management, only three of the channels are listed here. All three seem to do basically the same thing, present videos of history conference sessions. There are differences, though, and all three are worth a serious and sustained look:
Given the diverse interests of the people that follow this blog and the fact that "In the Service of Clio" has the mission of focusing on career management, only three of the channels are listed here. All three seem to do basically the same thing, present videos of history conference sessions. There are differences, though, and all three are worth a serious and sustained look:
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Thursday, May 28, 2015
Blog CLXXXVII (187): "You Got Your PhD...Now What?"
Many schools know that there is a job crisis in history. Some schools have more resources than others to do something to help their students and alumni. One of those institutions, is the the New School, and it turned to its alumni. The problem with this fact is that these efforts get far less visibility than sessions at conferences. The internet and video allows us to watch the proceedings of this session: "You Got Your PhD...Now What?"
None of these scholars are from history, but they are from fields in the humanities and social sciences: anthropology, economics, and sociology. They represent some pretty diverse career paths: business, non-profits, consulting, and government service. The participants are: David Michaelson, President and Chief Research Officer, Echo Research; Rick McGahey, Director of Impact Assessment, Ford Foundation; Charles Clark, professor of economics, St. John's University; and Cheryl Pahaham, chief municipal financial analyst, New York State Comptroller's Office.
Each tells a biographical story about how they ended up doing something non-academic with their Ph.D. and none of them, except Clark, have ended up doing work that seems like a natural fit for their degrees. These stories are useful and they also list websites that people wanting to follow a similar path might to find job postings. As a result, this session is quite helpful.
None of these scholars are from history, but they are from fields in the humanities and social sciences: anthropology, economics, and sociology. They represent some pretty diverse career paths: business, non-profits, consulting, and government service. The participants are: David Michaelson, President and Chief Research Officer, Echo Research; Rick McGahey, Director of Impact Assessment, Ford Foundation; Charles Clark, professor of economics, St. John's University; and Cheryl Pahaham, chief municipal financial analyst, New York State Comptroller's Office.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Blog CLXXXVI (186): Real Jobs Outside of Academia
A number of people in the history profession are trying to find ways out of the job crisis. There have been sessions at a number of academic conferences. I have written about some of those in which I participated (Blog LXVIII), and have posted videos of those sessions on this blog (Blog LXXV).
Others have been trying to do the same. Using the powers of the internet and video recording, "In the Service of Clio" presents this session entitled "Real Jobs Outside of Academia for Historians" that took place at the 2013 Organization of American Historians annual meeting in San Francisco, California. The speakers are Peter Sigal of Duke University; Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a business consultant; Andrew Kinney of Harvard University Press; Susan Ferber of Oxford University Press; and T. J. Stiles, the freelance Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.
These individuals are fairly prominent in their fields and they offer some interesting comments, but the real gold comes in the question and answer session at 33:15.
Others have been trying to do the same. Using the powers of the internet and video recording, "In the Service of Clio" presents this session entitled "Real Jobs Outside of Academia for Historians" that took place at the 2013 Organization of American Historians annual meeting in San Francisco, California. The speakers are Peter Sigal of Duke University; Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, a business consultant; Andrew Kinney of Harvard University Press; Susan Ferber of Oxford University Press; and T. J. Stiles, the freelance Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Blog CLXXXV (185): "I Want My History TV Channels!"
In addition to creating promotional videos of their programs, a number of history departments have created YouTube channels. These channels are specific sites on YouTube where individuals or organizations can upload and organize the videos that they make available to the rest of the websites' viewers. The creation of departmental channels reflects a trend of many universities creating channels to promote their activities and accomplishment. Some schools have been quite aggressive in this manner. For example, it seems that every college at the University of Southern California has a channel of its own.
The quality of history department channels is an altogether different matter. Some are maintained quite regularly and others have seen little attention since they went up. It is also clear that some departments are not sure what to do with this type of outlet. It reminds one of what departmental websites looked like in the mid-1990s.
Some departments prefer to hang videos off their own servers, making them part of their own unique website. That seems like a good way to control the copyright, content, and usage, but the downside is that it is probably less likely to get an audience if the purpose of the videos is promotional. The content is the real key. Video recordings of conferences seems to be a popular feature. Others include graduation ceremonies—for those institutions that have those type of events by department—lecture series, promotional videos of the department and of individual courses, and videos that various professors use as course content. The channels listed below come from universities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States:
The quality of history department channels is an altogether different matter. Some are maintained quite regularly and others have seen little attention since they went up. It is also clear that some departments are not sure what to do with this type of outlet. It reminds one of what departmental websites looked like in the mid-1990s.
Some departments prefer to hang videos off their own servers, making them part of their own unique website. That seems like a good way to control the copyright, content, and usage, but the downside is that it is probably less likely to get an audience if the purpose of the videos is promotional. The content is the real key. Video recordings of conferences seems to be a popular feature. Others include graduation ceremonies—for those institutions that have those type of events by department—lecture series, promotional videos of the department and of individual courses, and videos that various professors use as course content. The channels listed below come from universities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States:
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Acadia University
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University of California, Irvine
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University of Delaware
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University of Essex
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London School of Economics
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Marquette University
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University of Maryland
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University of Massachusetts
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Middle Tennessee State
University
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Monmouth University
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University of Nebraska
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University of New Mexico
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University
of North Carolina
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Northern Illinois
University
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The Ohio State University
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Oregon State University
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Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences (youtube.com or departmental site)
Pittsburgh
State University
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University of Sheffield
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Stetson University
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U.S. Military Academy
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University of Wisconsin
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University of York
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Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Blog CLXXXII (182): "I Want My History TV!"
There is a new trend in the history business. A number of history departments are creating promotional videos for their programs. The purposes of these videos seem to vary a bit. I suspect most of them are used at things like freshmen orientation sessions or college nights at high schools where universities recruit students. Some do seem to be trying to attract undergraduates, but others seem to be selling their graduate programs. There are 60 departments represented below from universities in Canada, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Some of these videos are hanging on departmental websites, but most are embedded on Youtube.com or vimeo.com.
Regardless of their location, what they tell us is the public perception that the department would like to project to the outside world.
(Technical note: All of the embedded videos allow the viewer to expand to full screen. The ones from USC and Princeton are hanging off the server for Blogger and the viewer is limited to a small version. "In the Service of Clio" has added direct links to the websites where the original versions of these videos can be found and if the viewer wants to, they can expand to full screen.)
Department of History
Central Michigan University
Department of History
College of Charleston
Department of History
The Citadel
Department of History
Clemson University
Department of History
Colorado College
Department of History
Concordia College
Department of History
Durham University
Department of History
University of Delaware
Department of History
University of Memphis
Department of History
Messiah College
Department of History
Millsaps College
Department of History
Misericordia University
Department of History (1 of 2)
Mississippi State University
Department of History (2 of 2)
Mississippi State University
Department of History
University of Nevada, Reno
Department of History
University of New Brunswick
Department of History
North Carolina State University
Department of History
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Department of History
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Department of History
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Department of History
Northern Michigan University
Department of History
Ohio University
Department of History
Department of History
Regardless of their location, what they tell us is the public perception that the department would like to project to the outside world.
(Technical note: All of the embedded videos allow the viewer to expand to full screen. The ones from USC and Princeton are hanging off the server for Blogger and the viewer is limited to a small version. "In the Service of Clio" has added direct links to the websites where the original versions of these videos can be found and if the viewer wants to, they can expand to full screen.)
Department of History
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Department of HistoryUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham
Baylor University
Department of History
Brown University
Faculty of History
University of Cambridge
Department of History
Central Michigan University
Department of History
College of Charleston
Department of History
The Citadel
Department of History
Clemson University
Department of History
Colorado College
Department of History
Concordia College
Department of History
Durham University
Department of History
University of Delaware
Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Department of History
Georgia Southern University
Department of History
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Department of History
Georgia Southern University
Department of History
Harvard University
Department of History
Illinois Wesleyan University
Department of History
University of Kelaniya
School of History
University of Kent
Department of History
University of Kentucky
Department of History
University of Limerick
Department of Politics, History, and International Relations
Loughborough University
Department of History
University of Manchester
Department of History
Illinois Wesleyan University
Department of History
University of Kelaniya
School of History
University of Kent
Department of History
University of Kentucky
Department of History
University of Limerick
Department of Politics, History, and International Relations
Loughborough University
Department of History
University of Manchester
Department of History
Marquette University
Department of History
University of Memphis
Department of History
Messiah College
Department of History
Millsaps College
Department of History
Misericordia University
Department of History (1 of 2)
Mississippi State University
Department of History (2 of 2)
Mississippi State University
Department of History
University of Nevada, Reno
Department of History
University of New Brunswick
Department of History
North Carolina State University
Department of History
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Department of History
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Department of History
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
Department of History
Northern Michigan University
Department of History
Ohio University
Department of History
The Ohio State University
Department of History and Political Science
Oklahoma Christian University
Department of History
Oklahoma State University
Department of History
Oklahoma Christian University
Department of History
Oklahoma State University
Department of History
University of Ottawa
Department of History
The Paris Institute of Political Studies
Department of History
Pennsylvania State University
Department of History
The Paris Institute of Political Studies
Department of History
Pennsylvania State University
Department of History
Department of History
Roanoke College
Department of History (1 of 2)
Roanoke College
Department of History (1 of 2)
University of Southern California
Department of History (2 of 2)
University of Southern California
https://dornsife.usc.edu/videos/featured/402/study-history-at-usc-dornsife/
https://dornsife.usc.edu/videos/featured/402/study-history-at-usc-dornsife/
Department of History and Geography
Texas Christian University
Department of History
Trinity International University
Department of History
University College London
Department of Military History
U.S. Army Command & General Staff College
Department of History
Texas Christian University
Department of History
Trinity International University
Department of History
University College London
Department of Military History
U.S. Army Command & General Staff College
Department of History
University of Utah
Department of History
Valdosta State University
Department of History
University of Victoria
Department of History
University of Waterloo
Department of History
Waynesburg University
Department of History
University of Victoria
Department of History
University of Waterloo
Department of History
Waynesburg University
Department of History
Wesleyan University
Department of History, Sociology and Criminology
University of Westminster
Department of History
Wheaton College
Department of History
Wilfrid Laurier University
Department of History, Sociology and Criminology
University of Westminster
Department of History
Wheaton College
Department of History
Wilfrid Laurier University
Department of History
University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Blog LXXV (75): An AHA Video
The AHA did record our session, and apparently all the others. They posted them on 
YouTube.com. Below are the links to Session 3. Before you click on them, you should know that we had problems with the microphone--our feed was going into another session and vice-versa. The video sounds adequate to me, but you might not feel that way. It also appears that there was no real camera work, so it pretty much stays as a wide shot of the six of us. I am sitting at the end of the table; opposite from the podium. The AHA has a YouTube channel and they broke up the recording into five parts. Enjoy.
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/16/Qb9Dx4Zm9iQ
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/15/wNukJs0a2ok
part 3
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/14/xj7jJoToHxM
part 4
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/13/7ydlZSl40XA
part 5
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/12/p3WWOEjMg3c
YouTube.com. Below are the links to Session 3. Before you click on them, you should know that we had problems with the microphone--our feed was going into another session and vice-versa. The video sounds adequate to me, but you might not feel that way. It also appears that there was no real camera work, so it pretty much stays as a wide shot of the six of us. I am sitting at the end of the table; opposite from the podium. The AHA has a YouTube channel and they broke up the recording into five parts. Enjoy.part 1
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/16/Qb9Dx4Zm9iQ
part 2
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/15/wNukJs0a2ok
part 3
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/14/xj7jJoToHxM
part 4
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/13/7ydlZSl40XA
part 5
http://www.youtube.com/user/historiansorg#p/u/12/p3WWOEjMg3c
Monday, January 31, 2011
Blog LXXIV (74): Another Video
Here is another one of those xtranormal videos. This one is "Why you Shouldn't Become an Archivist." According to the comments that are posted on the hosting site, this video has a lot of truth to it as did the ones that were posted in Blog LIX. The best satire always uses the truth. Enjoy.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Blog LIX (59): Videos
There is a new phenomenon out on the internet. It is the "So you Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities." It has spawned several variations. The videos are enormously popular not because they are funny--they are--but because the best satire always uses the truth.
I have put three of the videos up here. Everything--and I do mean everything--discussed in these videos has an element of truth. Each of the complaints that the professors make are those that are fairly common place in academia and representative of someone's life and career. The videos are much like cop shows on television. Most police officers in real life will only draw or discharge their weapon once, but it is not unusual for the lead in a television series to fire off bullet after bullet in one season, much less a career even if the story lines are like Law & Order and ripped from actual headlines. (It happens, just not to the same person over and over). The same is true with these videos.
I have included three. The original humanities Ph.D video. The one on political science, and finally the one on history. The history one is also the most harsh.
I have put three of the videos up here. Everything--and I do mean everything--discussed in these videos has an element of truth. Each of the complaints that the professors make are those that are fairly common place in academia and representative of someone's life and career. The videos are much like cop shows on television. Most police officers in real life will only draw or discharge their weapon once, but it is not unusual for the lead in a television series to fire off bullet after bullet in one season, much less a career even if the story lines are like Law & Order and ripped from actual headlines. (It happens, just not to the same person over and over). The same is true with these videos.
I have included three. The original humanities Ph.D video. The one on political science, and finally the one on history. The history one is also the most harsh.
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