Academic Activities

[history_PhD]

So, I'm working on an abstract (first ever!) for a history conference in my state that will be held in April. The abstract is on the paper I submitted for my writing sample, and the conference would be a condensed version of said paper. I also recently submitted the longer paper to a respected lower-level history journal in my state, upon the recommendation of my professor. By the time I find out about the status of any of these activities, it will be too late to send in an updated CV, of course.

What academic activities has everyone else been up to? I feel like there needs to be a non-acceptance related thread right now.

[EricaMarie]

I'm currently revising my thesis for submission to my university's graduate school so that I can graduate in May. There's also the Organization of American Historians annual meeting in Houston in March, which I'll be attending. With a bigger bag this time, as last year I left my house with three books and came home with 20.

[qbtacoma]

I need to submit my undergrad thesis to a journal. I did that last summer but it got rejected, so I'm going to try a different one. I got distracted with grad school applications and preparing for a conference but now I have more time to do it.

[sankd]

Conference proposals (GSA!), MA thesis (DC!), organizing our department's conference, building my fourth language, and.. that's about it. Grading quizzes.

[Iknownothing]

I'm working on chapter 3 of my master's thesis so I can graduate in May. This Tuesday I am participating in a Women's Studies colloquium at my university where I'll be presenting a chapter of my thesis (Women's Studies is my minor). In April, I will be presenting a paper at the Western Association of Women Historian's annual conference. So, keeping busy is a good thing while I wait out this whole PhD acceptance/rejection thing!

[jtaylorhfc]

Working full time is something of a hindrance on any academic project, I am however editing/rewriting sections of my Masters dissertation for journal publication.

[rsldonk]

I'm finalizing a paper for a conference I was accepted at that will be held in April. I'm also submitting a longer version to a journal for publication.

[radagast]

I teach third grade in English and Spanish. Though this is not strictly academic, I have furthered my language skills!

Edited January 28, 2011 by radagast

[a piece of bread]

I am almost done with the proposal of a conference paper that I will be presenting in April (if accepted) and currently working on my MA thesis taking most of my time. It is half done. And looking forward to hear back from schools I applied to

Edited January 28, 2011 by a piece of bread

[rsldonk]

Just curious, those going to conferences, which ones are you going to?

I'm going to Western Social Science Association in Salt Lake City. Anyone else going to be there?

[StrangeLight]

i am...

- awaiting feedback on my masters thesis from my advisor. the plan is to defend the thesis in late february or early march, but if the latest draft requires significant revision, i probably won't defend until late march. once this is done, i'll work on getting it published.

- talking with a professor from another university about participating in one or two book collections. the details still need to be hammered out but, for now, my involvement could fall anywhere from a chapter contribution to co-editing.

- writing a conference paper for my school's latin american social and public policy conference. based on the present and future potential policy applications of my historical research.

- writing another conference paper that will essentially present the findings of my masters thesis. i've already been accepted to present this at the mid-atlantic council for latin american studies (MACLAS), held in pittsburgh this year.

- preparing summer research travel grants for pre-dissertation research. most of these are within my school. i ran out of time for the SSRC's dissertaton development workshop/research thing.

- serving as the history representative for my school's arts and sciences graduate student organization. a pretty low-key appointment so far, since i'm not serving on any subcommittees at the moment.

- some researching and writing for the warhol museum.

that's it. i just realized i don't have any non-academic activities.

Edited January 28, 2011 by StrangeLight

[Henry Hudson]

I'm currently revamping/updating part of my undergrad honors thesis for a conference presentation and an article.

I'm presenting at an international conference in March that's a pretty good fit on my specialization; I've been avoiding smaller/local general-history conferences so as not to take away from the MA thesis writing any more than necessary.

[Emerson]

When I was a junior, one of my professors gave me the best advice I've ever received: if you want to be a history professor, you need to start acting like a history professor now; if you want to be a grad student, you need to start acting like a grad student now. Specifically, he meant that I should spend a lot of time on publications and conference presentations. For the last three years (my senior year and my two years of master's work) I've taken that advice to heart and luckily now have a good amount of publications and presentations under my belt. (If I get a funded offer, I'll mostly have my vita to thank.)

Currently, I am going through the final revision process with editors on two articles that are slated to appear either late this year or early next year (one is a revised version of last year's MA thesis, the other was my senior's thesis--they took forever to accept it), putting final touches on another article before submitting it to a journal's special issue this weekend, slowly finishing another article that I don't plan on submitting until later this summer, and making painfully slow progress on a conference paper for the Draper Conference in Early American History in March. I try to keep myself busy so I don't hit the "refresh" button on thegradcafe every ten minutes or so.

As for non-academic activities, my wife and I just welcomed our second child into the world, so that keeps my nights busy.

[Riotbeard]

I am editing down a seminar paper for a Grad Conference (Power and Struggle at University of Alabama) in March. The final version is due Monday... I am also planning (but being lazy) on starting to get some FBI files sent to me of Civil Rights activists and copies of some oral interviews held at distant libraries, so I can turn this seminar paper into something publishable.

I also started volunteer tutoring AP English at a local high school.

[TMP]

Does being in Germany and learning German count? I bought a history book in German to build up my vocabulary. But first, I should finish reading German for Reading Knowledge to learn more grammar than my current language class can teach me over the next month. It's just so much fun to learn the language- reading about German history WHILE in Germany and talking to other Germans. I love seeing how German history unfolds through these readings and personal conversations.

Also, I just received feedback on the article version of my MA thesis from a top-level journal in my subfield and while it's not being rejected completely, they do want me to make serious revisions before submitting it again for publication. *sigh* And all of my notes are in the United States... Well, that's my summer project! So it remains "under review."

There have been so many CFPs this year completely relevant to my research that I occasionally e-mail my MA thesis adviser and whine about not being in a doctoral program that can pay for my fees/travel expenses for these conferences! (Including one in Amsterdam!) She wrote back, "Stop whining. It's a good thing! It means your research is current and relevant!" Thanks for the vote of confidence.

[Riotbeard]

Does being in Germany and learning German count? I bought a history book in German to build up my vocabulary. But first, I should finish reading German for Reading Knowledge to learn more grammar than my current language class can teach me over the next month. It's just so much fun to learn the language- reading about German history WHILE in Germany and talking to other Germans. I love seeing how German history unfolds through these readings and personal conversations.

Also, I just received feedback on the article version of my MA thesis from a top-level journal in my subfield and while it's not being rejected completely, they do want me to make serious revisions before submitting it again for publication. *sigh* And all of my notes are in the United States... Well, that's my summer project! So it remains "under review."

There have been so many CFPs this year completely relevant to my research that I occasionally e-mail my MA thesis adviser and whine about not being in a doctoral program that can pay for my fees/travel expenses for these conferences! (Including one in Amsterdam!) She wrote back, "Stop whining. It's a good thing! It means your research is current and relevant!" Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Revise and re-submit is a huge victory! Congratulations!

[BadgerHopeful]

I am also planning (but being lazy) on starting to get some FBI files sent to me of Civil Rights activists and copies of some oral interviews held at distant libraries, so I can turn this seminar paper into something publishable.

I also started volunteer tutoring AP English at a local high school.

Oh cool - my parents were both Weathermen. They have lots of interesting stories about the Movement.

[qbtacoma]

Oh cool - my parents were both Weathermen. They have lots of interesting stories about the Movement.

!

Every once in a while I'll talk to someone I've known for years and they'll say "Oh yeah, I did x important thing way back" or "Sure, I met Famous Person, we worked together" and I regret not having a tape recorder right then.

[kotov]

Working on my undergrad thesis, mostly. ("The Soviet Famine of 1932-33 in American Media") This is my last semester, so I only have 14 hours, 2 of which are golf, so. Yeah. I'm a slacker.

[history_PhD]

Working on my undergrad thesis, mostly. ("The Soviet Famine of 1932-33 in American Media") This is my last semester, so I only have 14 hours, 2 of which are golf, so. Yeah. I'm a slacker.

Interesting topic. Have you looked to see if Jewish newspapers have anything on this?

[sankd]

Working on my undergrad thesis, mostly. ("The Soviet Famine of 1932-33 in American Media") This is my last semester, so I only have 14 hours, 2 of which are golf, so. Yeah. I'm a slacker.

I'm also taking golf this semester.

[EricaMarie]

I'm also taking golf this semester.

I've chosen to take Intro to Photography and University Band this semester, in addition to my 6 credits of history, so I'm hopeful that the two extra classes will help keep my mind off the fact that my future isn't mine to decide right now.

[sankd]

I'm also taking 6 Thesis credits (more work than two seminars, no kidding), 4 credits of Arabic IV, and a 3 credit directed reading. 14 credits total. I figured, why not golf? It's a nice March morning activity.

I didn't know extracurriculars counted as academic activity too, though. That list for me is just way too long to post. Then there's the foodbank volunteering.. despite the 12 hour days on campus, my mother still doesn't think this is a job. It is. Just not a well-compensated one.

[historyguy12485]

In reply to the OP, I am also working on a paper to be presented at a conference in my state in April. Is it the PAT conf. at Villanova in PA by any chance?

I'm also going to be submitting said paper to an interdisciplinary academic journal for libertarians (I'm showing my political colors here haha).

I work as an interpretive tour guide at the Colonial PA Plantation, an 18th c. living history farm. I'm doing some light research right now on labor systems of 18th c. Chester County, PA and using the records from the plantation as a starting point. There were a few slaves and a mulatto indentured servant that lived on the plantation, however until recently, they were not considered in the interpretation of the site. This is changing however.

This summer I am going to be interning at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in the Military Programs department. I'll be interpreting the life of a VA militia soldier and give tours of the powder magazine, and I will also be researching black soldiers in VA during the revolution - both on the American and British side.

I also teach piano, I have 5 students ages 7-11 and I love it!

ETA: I'm beginning to gather sources for a paper that I'm writing for a European history class I am taking dealing with oppression in early modern Europe. I am going to write about the underground world of homosexuality in London using the book Select Trials at the Sessions House in the Old Bailey from 1720-1723. This stuff is downright bawdy!

Edited February 4, 2011 by historyguy12485

[natsteel]

I am having to take 19 credits to graduate this spring. I am getting 7 credits to write another honors thesis (some very generous finagling by my advisor). That paper is on William Livingston and the Independent Reflector as a tool of cultural transmission in the public sphere of colonial New York. I am also revising my honors paper from last year to be published in the Columbia Undergraduate Journal of History. However, turning a 50-page research essay into a 25-page journal article is the equivalent of having taken another class. I am also fulfilling my two final core requirements: Macroeconomics and U.S. Writers in the 18th Century, as well as an independent study doing research for a mentor's next book. Despite all that, I still find far too much time to obsess over the wait.