The S-USIH Executive Committee is pleased to announce the appointment of L.D. Burnett, currently in the graduate program in Humanities and the History of Ideas at the University of Texas at Dallas, as the new chair of the S-USIH Publication Committee. L.D. replaces Tim Lacy, who has resigned upon accepting a new position in the Teaching and Learning Center at Loyola University’s Stritch College of Medicine
The Publications Chair supervises all S-USIH publications, including the blog. In accordance with the Constitution, L.D. was nominated to fulfill Tim’s unfinished term and approved by the Executive Committee.
L.D. is well-known to the readers of this blog for incisive commentary over a long period and, most recently, as our Friday blogger. She has been serving on the Publications Committee with Ben Alpers and so is well-versed in the committee’s ongoing projects. Her dissertation concerns the intellectual history of an infamous, emblematic but not yet adequately understood battle in the “culture wars” of the 1980s, the “Great Books” debate at Stanford University.
Our congratulations go to Tim on his new position. We regret that he will have to reduce his active and intensive involvement in the leadership of S-USIH (for now), although he will continue to participate in the blog, dispense wisdom freely and generously, and participate actively as time allows. Tim’s “call to action” to all those interested in U.S. intellectual history led to the creation of the USIH blog, and he has been a leader in establishing the annual conference and creating S-USIH.
Paul Murphy
President, S-USIH
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Just a big shout out to Tim for his great work here–and for the past decade–in creating a forum for all of us to share our thoughts, float our ideas, read about each others’ work, and feel like we are a bona fide part of an intellectual community, no matter where we were in our lives, professionally or personally. Thanks Tim, thanks so much. Don’t be a stranger, not that you could be even if you wanted to.
Amen. Thank you, Tim, for creating a hospitable space of discourse. You were the first person to include me in the conversation here at the blog — and you may some day be the last person who will put up with me, too! I hope your absence from official S-USIH leadership is as temporary as I intend my tenure as PubComm chair to be.
And thanks Paul for the kind (re)introduction. I’ll take “incisive” — but I would take other descriptors as well with gratitude and good humor. Indeed, I’m grateful for the confidence of the Executive Committee, and I’ll do the best job I can.
First, thank you Paul, Kevin, and Lora. I do appreciate the kind words.
Second, I hope this is temporary—meaning 9-12 months maximum. Sadly, it also means I won’t be attending this year’s conference. I need time and mental space to get adjusted to a new work scene, as well as money to pay some back bills (e.g. related to this summer’s move).
Third, I hope everyone gives the Publications Committee all the support it needs. There are important tasks on the agenda (newsletters, the journal feasibility study, and the blog transition).
In the meantime, I’ll continue to hang around as a blogger and commenter—inserting my voice when and where I can. – TL