Happy Summer!

As we reach the midpoint of summer, we at GECC are starting to look toward Fall and the HSS Annual Meeting in New Orleans this November. Please see the following announcements concerning several calls for contributions from GECC Officers.

Call for Contributors: “Getting Creative with Research and Funding: Tacit Knowledge Roundtable”

Sponsored by the Graduate and Early Career Caucus (GECC), this roundtable invites discussion on creative approaches to finding and applying to research opportunities. Current graduate students and early career scholars will speak on retooling HSTM topics for research and funding opportunities outside the field, applying to and utilizing digital fellowships and resources, locating and applying for funding outside of the United States, and building community-driven funding support within departments that bridge faculty and graduate lines. Participants will also share “tips and tricks” for best navigating archives and research institutions with limited resources.”

Our Vision: We are searching for 1-2 additional advanced graduate students or early career scholars to join our roundtable and share their experiences in seeking funding, resources, and research opportunities in pursuit of their graduate degrees and early stages of their career, with an eye towards inspiring and building networks of support and mentorship for students and early career scholars weathering increased austerity measures across the field. We especially invite contributors that have traversed and found success in graduate school and early career stages within difficult conditions, or through non-traditional means–as its name implies, this panel aims to highlight creative solutions for common early-career obstacles, and emphasize the utility and increased necessity of diversifying the path towards degree completion and the job market.

The roundtable is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15th from 2-3:30pm, 3rd floor Napoleon 2A of the Sheraton New Orleans.

If you are interested in participating, please reach out to Kat White and Seán Thomas Kane below.

Call for Contributors: 2025 Women’s Mentorship Event

Sponsored by the Graduate and Early Career Caucus (GECC), this session aims to bring together grad students, early career scholars, and more established scholars to discuss the experiences and obstacles faced by women in academic spaces. The proposed theme this year is community solidarity. We invite contributions and conversations that first address the often intersectional challenges that impact university life as a whole–with an emphasis on what happens outside of the classroom that affects the prospects and career trajectories of students and faculty–and second, discussion around the many projects, coalitions, and solidarity-based spaces that provide resources and create community across campus groups.

This could include topics such as housing and food security, combatting sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace, organizing around international and undocumented student concerns, fights around access needs and disability, LGBTQ+ healthcare and safety, labor and collective bargaining, and more. The goal of this panel is not only to recognize the shared difficulties of academic life during a turbulent period for the profession, but to begin the conversation by highlighting the community-driven systems of support that emerge in response.

This is a space to share experiences and suggestions for building networks of solidarity, community, and support within the university environment as a whole, and encourage connections across working conditions and organizing spaces. All non-binary and women-identifying attendees are welcome!

Our Vision: We’re hoping to have 5-6 mentors who can volunteer their time and thoughts this year and to contribute a brief, informal presentation on a community space or project they’ve engaged that supports the diverse voices and diverse needs of the university ecosystem. This brief opening "presentation" section will be followed by more of the open discussion of previous years. We’ve pitched a central theme of community solidarity, but the discussion does not have to be limited to that! We are particularly hoping for a mix of mentors at public and private institutions and multiple career levels.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15th from 4-5:30pm, 3rd floor Napoleon 2A of the Sheraton New Orleans.

If you are interested in participating, please reach out to Kat White below.

CFP: HSS 2025 Lightning Talk

Did your paper for this year’s HSS meeting in New Orleans not get accepted? Did you recently come across an interesting item in the archives? Are you looking to refine how you present your research? Consider submitting an abstract for our lightning talks panel, where you will have the opportunity to present your work and be paired with a mentor for individualized feedback.

Deadline for Submission is 15 August 2025.

That’s all from us with the GECC Communications Committee. If you have any announcements that you’d like us to include in our August newsletter please send it in to us with the Google Form linked below by Friday, 22 August at 5:00 pm CDT (3 pm PDT / 6 pm EDT / 11 pm BST).