• Recruiting Meeting for the next MA in History Secondary Education cohort.

The ASU History Department is accepting applications for a new cohort that will run from Fall 2010 through Summer 2012 at the ASU Center in Hickory.

On Tuesday, October 20 at 6:00 p.m., we will hold an information and recruiting meeting in Room 1122 of the ASU Center (directions below). Dr. Lucinda Beier, Department chair, and Dr. Myra Pennell, program director, will be there from the History Department along with representatives from the Office of Extension and Distance Education. At that meeting, the ASU representatives will describe the program in detail and answer questions. Application packets will be available. If you are interested in the program, please plan to attend this important meeting. Come even if you have not completely made up your mind to participate because information about the details will help you decide.

Directions: The ASU Center (formerly the Hickory Metro Higher Education Center) is located at 2760 Hwy. 70 SE in Hickory, two traffic lights east of Catawba Valley Community College and Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club. From I-40, the ASU Center is located between Exit 126 and Exit 128.

If you cannot attend the meeting but are interested in the program, contact Dr. Myra Pennell at pennellml@appstate.edu.

• NEH Workshop

The Department of History is once again hosting a week-long Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop titled Not Just a Scenic Road: The Blue Ridge Parkway and Its History. (More information)

• CALL FOR PAPERS: Appalachian Spring - Fifth Annual Conference in World History and Economics

  This conference is an interdisciplinary meeting aimed at bringing together scholars from Appalachian State University (Boone, NC) with scholars from other universities in North Carolina and the surrounding states. We have already hosted three of these meetings in the past, which have been very successful. Our model is to bring a prominent keynote speaker to our campus, a person with wide interdisciplinary appeal. This year’s speaker will be Dr. Miles Taylor, Director of the Institute of Historical Research, London, UK; a world-renowned scholar of comparative social and political history as well as the history of the British Empire. We will also feature 5-6 panels with scholarly papers, divided among different topical themes, including an undergraduate/graduate panel and a panel for teachers of world history topics. This year’s theme will be Cost and Politics of Empires. The paper proposals do not have to be directly tied to the conference theme, although papers fitting with theme will be given special consideration.

  The conference will take place on March 20, 2010, on the Appalachian State University campus, Boone, in the beautiful North Carolina mountains. Those interested in participating should let the organizers know by February 1, 2010. A one-page abstract describing the scholar’s proposal should be submitted to the organizers by that date. A full paper will be expected by the organizers by March 1, 2010. There will be only a modest registration fee. The organizers cannot provide funding for accommodations or travel expenses. We will offer meals to the participants during the meeting at no additional cost beyond the registration fee.

• History Matters

The 2009 Issue of HISTORY MATTERS is on the web! History Matters is a web-based, undergraduate journal of historical research published annually by the department of history at Appalachian State University. The journal is edited by undergraduates with the help of a faculty board.  The staff is excited about the new installment of the journal, and we would like to thank all of the undergraduate authors who participated this year.