I’d like to wish you and your families a very Happy New Year for 2012 and to welcome everyone back to campus for the Winter Term. I hope everyone enjoyed the break, short though it was.
In particular, I’d like to welcome a new colleague who will be with us this term: Professor Deepak Kumar, Professor of the History of Science and Education at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, is here as the first York University-Indian Council of Cultural Relations Visiting Professor in Modern India. He will be teaching two courses: HIST 3797 3.0, India in the 20th Century, and HIST 3798 3.0, Topics in Modern Indian History. The latter will focus on his research specialty, Science and Technology in Colonial South Asia. His office is 2136 Vari Hall (telephone 30419) and his email deepakjnu2008@gmail.com. Please drop by his office to introduce yourself. He is very much looking forward to his term at York. He will be giving a special lecture later in the term (date to be arranged). I’ll forward details as soon as everything is finalized.
It promises to be a busy term. We shall be bringing short-listed candidates for our tenure-stream position in U.S. History to campus in late January/early February. Molly Ladd-Taylor, chair of the search committee, will be announcing the dates as soon as they are fixed. All members of the Department and graduate students will be more than welcome at the research talks that the candidates give, and the search committee will look forward to receiving your comments.
The annual New Frontiers Graduate History Conference will take place this year from February 23 to 25, with Joan Wallach Scott (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) as keynote speaker. Once again this event promises to be a highlight of the year.
The annual Melville-Nelles-Hoffmann Lecture in Environmental History will be given by James McCann (Boston University) on Wednesday March 7 (title tbc). Professor McCann’s research interests include agricultural and ecological history of Africa, Ethiopia, and the Horn of Africa, field research methods in African studies, the agro-ecology of tropical disease, and the history of food/cuisine in Africa and the Atlantic world.
The Undergraduate History Students Association are planning to hold their third annual undergraduate conference during the Winter Term (date to be announced).
Marc Egnal, our teaching and learning coordinator, will be announcing soon the details of a discussion session on teaching and learning on Thursday January 19.
Finally, our research coordinator, Marcel Martel, will be announcing soon the roster of research events for this term.
All best wishes for the start of classes and a productive and enjoyable term.