According to the SHEAR Constitution, the duties of the President include:

1. Presiding over the meetings of the Advisory Council and general meetings of the Society, setting the agendas for these meetings, and ensuring the implementation of these bodies’ decisions.
2. Delivering a presidential address at the annual meeting that concludes their term.
3. Overseeing the Society’s processes for elections and for amending its Constitution and Bylaws.
4. Serving on and chairing the Executive Committee, whose duties are outlined below.
5. Appointing the Treasurer and Conference Coordinator to six-year terms; and Social Media Coordinator, members of the Book Prize committee, members of the Broussard Best First Book committee, and members of the Mary Kelley Prize committee to three-year terms.
6. Overseeing any special committees that they and the Advisory Council might appoint for specific purposes.

2020-2021 President

I’m the George Winfree Professor of History and Women’s Studies at Penn State University, where I’ve taught since receiving my Ph.D. in 1995. Two years later SHEAR’s annual meeting came to State College. My colleague, Annie Rose, asked if I wanted to help out with local arrangements; when I said yes I had no idea what SHEAR would come to mean in my life. Despite predictable problems with lodging and logistics, my memories of that conference are a golden glow: exciting conversations, animated panels, and the most generous and welcoming group of historians I had ever met. I knew immediately that SHEAR would become my academic home. In the years since I’ve only missed two conferences (I blame my children for their summer birthdays), and served SHEAR in a variety of ways before becoming President, including chairing the 2012 Program Committee and two terms on the Advisory Council.