Just in time for the end of June, it’s the History of Science Society Graduate and Early Career Caucus (GECC) newsletter! This monthly publication highlights news and events — upcoming conferences, CFPs, and job postings — relevant to the history of science.

This month, we have announcements of some upcoming GECC events and other items. If you have an event, opportunity, or news item you would like featured in future newsletters, please send the details to [email protected] or use this form.

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GECC Events

GECC is planning several events during the lead-up to and at the conference.

Getting Your Docs in a Row: Reviewing Job Market Materials for the 2023-2024 Cycle

September 8, 2023 9 am PST/12pm EST (Virtual)

This workshop will explore what makes a compelling job application portfolio for tenure-track jobs in the history of science, environmental history, and/or allied fields. It will focus on five job application components: the CV, cover letter, research statement, teaching statement, and diversity, equity, and inclusion statement. It will feature early career scholars who have recently been successful on the job market and established faculty who have lately served on search committees in history and allied fields. The invited speakers will each talk about one document for 10-12 minutes, and the remaining time will be used for questions from the audience. This workshop is the first in a new series of virtual events co-hosted by the Graduate and Early Career Caucus of the History of Science Society (HSS) and the American Society for Environmental History. Registration will begin circulating in the coming weeks. Co-Organizers: Kristin Brig-Ortiz (Johns Hopkins, ASEH) and Taylor Elizabeth Dysart (Penn, HSS)

Building a Cohesive Career Narrative: From the Job Market to Reappointment

HSS 2023 Annual Meeting

Your job documents can help you stand out from other applicants, tell a story about yourself as a scholar, and frame your growth in ways that emphasize your priorities, values, and achievements. In this interactive workshop at the annual meeting, participants will hear from a panel of speakers, experienced in a variety of stages of hiring and career evaluation, about how you can build a strong and cohesive career narrative in your job market and/or professional documents. Participants will then be able to share their own experiences and/or job documents in mentored small groups and receive advice and specific feedback to develop and refine their own documents. The session will end with a facilitated discussion/Q&A period about strategies for writing strong documents. Participants interested in receiving specific feedback should bring a printout of their job document(s) or a device to access those document(s). This workshop will focus on application documents (CVs; cover letters; teaching, research, and/or diversity statements) and annual review and/or promotion narrative documents.

GECC is recruiting panelists for this workshop. We are particularly interested in panelists with experience hiring and/or evaluating candidates for annual review and/or promotion in either academic institutions or other settings. Please contact Ellie Louson, GECC Mentorship Officer ([email protected]).

Other Events

At the conference, GECC will host an evening meetup for graduate students and early career scholars. We will also have a “Welcome Room” once again. Stay tuned for more as we get closer to the meeting.

HSS 2023 Travel Grants

Are you planning to attend the HSS annual meeting in Portland? Several grants and funds are available to assist graduate students and early-career scholars.

• National Science Foundation Travel Grants for graduate students, independent scholars, and early career scholars (PhDs from the past five years), who are US Residents and or study at US Institutions.

• HSS Travel Grants for graduate students, independent scholars, and early career scholars who are ineligible for NSF grants.

• Dependent Care Grants of up to $250 USD to defray the costs of care at home or at the meeting site.

The deadline for all grant applications is September 15, 2023.

In addition, graduate students who volunteer to assist with meeting administration will have their registration fees waived. The signup will be available soon, along with other information on the meeting, here.

Community News

“Announcing 2023-2024 Library & Museum Fellows,” American Philosophical Society.

“Science History Institute Welcomes 2023–2024 Beckman Center Fellows,” Science History Institute.

“2023 Graduate Student Essay Award Submissions due September 1st,” Forum for the History of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHHMLS) and Cambridge University Press

“Call for Papers: Skeletons in the Academy—A Graduate Student Symposium on Human Remains in University Collections,” Johns Hopkins University Death x Data Lab, September 2023.

Jobs Listings

Below find a selection of recent job postings.

Johns Hopkins University, Assistant or Associate Professor in History of Medicine (tenure-track)

MIT, Assistant Professor in Program in Science, Technology, and Society (open field - 2 positions; tenure-track)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lecturer in History of Computing (1-year fixed term)

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Lecturer in Science, Technology, Sustainability, and Society (1-year fixed term)

SUNY Buffalo, Open-Rank Position in History of Science, Health, or Disability, with focus on Africa (2 positions; tenure-track)

SUNY Buffalo, Open-Rank Position in History of Science, Health, or Disability, with focus on South/Southeast Asia or Latin America (tenure-track)

Technische Universität Berlin, Research assistant with teaching obligation (postdoc; up to 5 years)

Utrecht University, Two postdoc positions in History and Philosophy of Physics or Science (4-5 years)

Get in touch

We want this newsletter to become a space for community discussion and reflection, so we’re eager to hear from you about issues that could serve as topics for the newsletter. We also want to hear about your own news, large or small: Are you graduating and starting a new position? Spending a month or year researching somewhere? Have a paper or chapter coming out? We want to hear about it! You can send any contributions, ideas, or suggestions to [email protected] with “NEWSLETTER” in the subject line or fill out this form.