Elections 2011: Voting begins Fri. Sept. 16

The American Catholic Historical Association will be holding its annual elections this month. Balloting will be conducted online and will begin on September 16. All members will receive instructions for voting on the afternoon of September 16. These instructions will include a unique user name and password to access the online voting system. In preparation for the election, we are presenting the roster of candidates for all offices accompanied by candidate-provided statements and curricula vitarum, presented below.

IMPORTANT! In order to participate in the upcoming elections, we must have a valid e-mail address on file. If you have not received e-mails from the ACHA recently or have changed your e-mail address in the last two years and have not notified us of the change, please let us know immediately. Please e-mail [email protected] with your name and your current e-mail address. Thank you!

 

Candidates for Office

Click on a name or office for candiate-provided responses and CVs.

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Vice President (vote one)

• Patricia Killen, Gonzaga University
• Margaret McGuinness, LaSalle University

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Executive Council, 2012-2015 (two seats)

Vote one:

• Suzanne Brown-Fleming, U.S. Holocaust Museum
• Larry Jones, Canisius College

Vote one:

• Leigh Ann Craig,Virigina Commonwealth University
• Damian Smith, Saint Louis University

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Executive Council, January 2012-2014, to fill the unexpired term of Bentley Anderson (vote one)

• Ed Brett, LaRoche College
• Charles Gallagher, Boston College

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Nominating Committee, 2012-2015 (vote one)

• Una Cadegan, University of Dayton
• Charles Strauss, Valparaiso University

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Vice Presidential candidates

Patricia Killen
Gonzaga University

History and historical theology have developed rapidly over the past three decades and more, increasing the array of approaches employed to understand the religious experiences, practices, thoughts, and social presence of faith communities. The American Catholic Historical Association is a pivotal organization at this moment for its ability to bring together scholars from across generations and with diverse expertise to advance understanding of the history of Catholicism globally. I am interested in serving the ACHA to advance a vital practice of the history of Catholicism, one that both draws on the potential of newer methodological approaches and appreciates and understands the place of theology within the narrative of Catholicism. Accurate, incisive, and insightful historical presentations of Catholicism are essential to the wider project of the history of Christianity and to the Catholic community.

• Patricia Killen’s CV [PDF]

Margaret M. McGuinness
La Salle University

Since 1919 the American Catholic Historical Association has provided teachers, archivists, independent scholars, and graduate students with a forum in which to engage in conversations about the state of the discipline, present papers that often represent cutting edge scholarship in the history of Catholicism, and support each other as they shed new light on the story of the Catholic Church throughout the world. As an American Catholic historian currently researching the history of women religious in the United States, I have been a beneficiary of the support, collegiality and intellectual stimulation offered by the Association’s members.

Those of who teach undergraduates and serve on university committees, however, know that a major change has occurred in both the way students learn and how they communicate with each other. As co-editor of American Catholic Studies, I am aware that this has now expanded to include graduate students and junior faculty members, who are quite comfortable in a world where information is gathered and transmitted electronically. My vision for the ACHA includes continuing those aspects of the Association that have sustained many its members for almost one hundred years, while recognizing that the next generation of historians will need our support as they produce scholarship, present work, and share ideas using methods that may not yet exist. Focusing on both present and future members will allow the Association to flourish for the next hundred years and beyond.

• Margaret M. McGuinness’ CV [PDF]

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Executive Council candidates

Suzanne Brown-Fleming
U.S. Holocaust Museum

As a member of the American Catholic Historical Association Executive Committee, I would nurture the pivotal role of the ACHA in encouraging continued responsible and accurate scholarly attention to the history of the Catholic Church—particularly in Germany and the United States—during the period of the Third Reich and after. I believe that the ACHA can play a role in bringing together scholarship on the Holocaust and scholarship on Catholicism during the Nazi period, allowing for a more nuanced picture of the ways in which the Church hierarchy’s responses to persecution of Catholics influenced its responses to mistreatment of Jews and other non-Catholic victims. Catholic faith had a profound influence on the decision-making of those who were faced with the Third Reich and its atrocities; after the war, the Holocaust had a profound influence on individuals’ Catholic faith.  The ACHA is positioned to encourage responsible, sensitive exploration of these difficult and often explosive historical issues.

Larry Jones
Canisius College

Leigh Ann Craig
Virginia Commonwealth University

When I am teaching my undergraduate students about the medieval Church, I often find myself countering their assumption that medieval people had a completely monolithic experience of their faith by explaining to them that “in my Father’s house, there are many rooms.” I am deeply interested in the diversity of the Catholic experience in history. My research, which has centered on the pilgrimages of medieval women and, more recently, on gender and diagnostics in miracle collections, explores differences of experience. Through my scholarship, I have sought to broaden our perceptions of lay participation in and interpretation of Catholic ritual and theology. As a member of the ACHA executive council, my goal would be not only to expand the organization’s membership (as I have sought to do during my time on the Membership Committee), but to extend the scope of the ACHA’s scholarly interests to reflect this historical diversity. I would also bring organizational and administrative experience to the position. I have served my home institution in a number of ongoing, detail-oriented administrative capacities, and worked with many authors and with a large editing team as an associate editor for The Encyclopedia of Medieval Pilgrimage (Brill, 2009).

• Leigh Ann Craig’s CV [PDF]

Damian Smith
Saint Louis University

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Candidates for the vacant position on the Executive Council

Ed Brett
LaRoche College

Having served primarily at small Catholic colleges for the last three decades, I have been called on to teach courses in virtually all areas of Catholic history. This has allowed me to acquire a solid, general knowledge of the church’s past, which I think would be beneficial for an association that is concerned with all areas of Catholic history.

If elected I would work to foster a greater awareness among historians of the importance of Catholic mission history and its impact on Catholic history as a whole. This is a field that has until recently been mostly overlooked.

• Ed Brett’s CV [PDF]

Charles Gallagher
Boston College

Based on my experience as Visiting Fellow at the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations in 2009-2010, and in teaching courses on religion and international relations to a pluralistic student body of both students and practitioners of diplomacy, I am convinced that the study of religion and the role of Catholicism ought to be discussed and contextualized within a global framework. Moreover, I believe that the mission of the ACHA is currently relevant, vital, and operating from a position of strength in the profession. Many of the gains of the last ten years, particularly the new web presence of the ACHA, the strength of our journal, and the increased profile of the ACHA, has highlighted the significance of that the ACHA plays, and will continue to play, in the profession. Given these conditions, I envision in the coming years a more international presence for the ACHA by highlighting:

• A more internationalized role and presence for the ACHA.
• The facilitation of the creation of international “networks” of scholars within the ACHA with scholars abroad. The creation of a clearing house database list of global scholarly networks on the ACHA website.
• The building of key partnerships with Catholic, religious, and national historical associations internationally.
• Building on the success of the Canadian Catholic Historical Association-ACHA joint conference in Toronto in 2011, searching out opportunities for further cross-border and joint international conferences. Such initiatives will not only increase the profile of the ACHA, but allow for greater exchange among scholars.
• Building on the international scope and success of the 2010 conference “Pope Pius XI in America,” at Brown University, by studying the possibility of the introduction of various bi-lingual panels and workshops into ACHA conferences.
• Charles Gallagher’s CV [PDF]

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Nominating Committee candidates

Una Cadegan
University of Dayton

I believe I could serve usefully on the ACHA Nominating Committee, as I have been a member for many years, and have developed a network of colleagues on who I could draw for ideas and suggestions beyond my immediate acquaintance. Similarly, I have been involved in several projects related to Catholic Studies that have introduced me to colleagues outside my own subject area and time period. Finally, my work at my home university, the University of Dayton, in faculty development related to Catholic intellectual tradition, has made me aware of scholarly work in a wide variety of areas. As a member of the Nominating Committee, I would seek to continue to diversify the Association’s membership both in variety of historical areas and approaches and by working to invite and involve younger members. I benefitted greatly earlier in my career from the collegiality of senior scholars, and would welcome the opportunity to do the same for others.

• Una Cadegan’s CV [PDF]

Charles Strauss
Valparaiso University

I joined the ACHA as a graduate student and am grateful to the organization for enriching my training as a historian of United States political and religious history. I was fortunate to present abridged versions of three of my dissertation chapters at three ACHA meetings. Exchanges with fellow panelists and audiences, in addition to informal interactions at meals and receptions, helped me to refine my arguments and suggested new directions for my research and analysis. I am indebted to a number of senior scholars, whom I met at ACHA meetings, for establishing Catholic Studies as a serious field of study as well as for their generous mentorship of my work. After connecting with graduate students and younger faculty at ACHA meetings, I started the “ACHA Young Scholars” page on Facebook; a group of graduate students is now working on enhancing the ACHA’s online presence. As a member of the membership committee, I have helped to recruit new members, particularly graduate students, and I facilitated a graduate student networking session at the Spring 2010 meeting at Princeton University. I credit the ACHA for supporting my transition from student to scholar and am eager to support the mission and future projects of the organization.

If elected to the nominating committee, I would seek to nominate candidates to ACHA positions who appreciate the history of the organization and who have creative and innovative ideas about its future. I am particularly interested in working to foster more interactions between senior and younger scholars through intentionally designed conference panels, workshops, and informal gatherings. I am also excited by the opportunities that the ACHA provides for scholars from Catholic institutions and non-Catholic institutions to meet and collaborate and would support these exchanges through the nominating committee. Finally, I am confident that the collegiality that animates our community of scholars is one of the treasures of the ACHA. As a member of the nominating committee, I would work to continue this tradition at the annual and spring meetings as well as in new forums, such as on the ACHA website.

• Charles Strauss’ CV [PDF]