News of the Organization

Griffith Named OAH Treasurer

Robert Griffith, professor and history department chair at American University, has been appointed treasurer of the Organization of American Historians.

Griffith brings years of experience in financial management to the position of OAH Treasurer. In addition to his current position at American University, Griffith served as the dean of the Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland from 1989 to1995, where he administered a budget of twenty-seven million dollars. As provost at American University from 1995 to 1997, Griffith managed a budget of ninety-seven million dollars. A member of OAH since 1964, Griffith has a passionate appreciation for the important contributions OAH has given to his professional life.

Griffith is the author of The Politics of Fear: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Senate, which won the OAH Fredrick Jackson Turner Prize. The third edition of his anthology, Major Problems in American History since 1945, coedited with Paula Baker, appeared in 2006. The author of many articles, essays, and reviews, Griffith has held fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Harry S. Truman Library Institute.

Robert Griffith succeeds Robert W. Cherny, University of San Francisco, as the OAH treasurer. A professor of history at San Francisco State University, Cherny began his term as OAH treasurer in 2003.  In joining the OAH Executive Board in expressing their gratitude to Cherny for his commitment to OAH and the profession, Executive Director Lee Formwalt added, “OAH is grateful for and deeply appreciates Bob’s five years of dedicated stewardship and counsel.”

OAH Publishes
America on the World Stage

Recognizing the urgent need for students to understand the emergence of the United States’ power and prestige in relation to world events, Gary W. Reichard and Ted Dickson,  and their team of over two dozen historians and teachers, reframe the teaching of American history in a global context. Each essay covers a specific chronological period and approaches fundamental topics and events in United States history from an international perspective, emphasizing how the development of the United States has always depended on its transactions with other nations for commodities, cultural values, and populations. For each historical period, the authors also provide practical guidance on bringing this international approach to the classroom with suggested lesson plans and activities. Ranging from the colonial period to the civil rights era and everywhere in between, this collection will help prepare Americans for success in an era of global competition and collaboration.

The book, published by the University of Illinois Press, will make its debut this spring at the 2008 OAH Annual Meeting in New York City. Learn more here.