austrias young americanists newsletter 2014
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Dear AYA members and friends, Welcome to the first newsletter of Austria’s Young Americanists (AYA), in which we will inform you of the following updates:
1. AYA membership 2. New AYA board 3. New website and social media pages 4. Thesis Thursday 5. AYA Workshop 2014 in Salzburg (Austria): “Multi-Ethnic Voices Shaping US Society and
Politics: Past, Present and Future”
1. AYA MEMBERSHIP_________________________________________________________________
Good news: AYA membership will of course remain free of charge! We are not officially listed as a registered society (“eingetragener Verein”), so membership is neither compulsory nor strictly regulated. Our chief purpose is to provide a network of young scholars in the field of American Studies at Austrian universities and enhance the communication among them by offering informal events and workshops. While AYA chiefly addresses PhD candidates, we also invite advanced M.A. students and early-stage post-doctoral researchers to join our community, both from Austria and abroad. If you know young academics who might be interested in joining AYA, please spread the word. We are always happy to welcome new members to our network! Not yet an AYA member? In order to apply for membership, simply send us an abstract (about 250 words) of your current research project (M.A. / PhD / post-doctoral thesis) and a short bio note to [email protected]. By doing so, you agree to have your information published on our website and our social media pages. If don’t wish to do so, please let us know in your email. Are you already an AYA member? We invite all current members to update their abstracts and biographical information that are published on our website. Simply send us your updates to [email protected]. Please also let us know when you graduate, so we can celebrate the completed thesis with you! 2. NEW AYA BOARD__________________________________________________________________
In fall 2013, the AYA team was reshuffled. It now consists of one board member from each Austrian university, in order to represent our national American Studies Departments. The new team members and their current roles in the AYA board are as follows:
Cornelia Klecker, University of Innsbruck: assistance with any workshop-related questions, funding
Judith Kohlenberger, University of Vienna: website and social media, newsletter
Martina Koegeler-Abdi, University of Graz: AYA workshop organization 2015 in Graz
Miriam H. Auer, University of Klagenfurt: newsletter
Saskia Fürst, University of Salzburg: AYA workshop organization 2014 in Salzburg
You can find photos and brief bio notes of the new board here.
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Special thanks go to former board members Simone Puff (formerly University of Klagenfurt), Leopold Lippert (University of Vienna / University of Graz) and Michael Fuchs (University of Graz) for their dedicated work as AYA representatives. We also wish to acknowledge the support of Yvonne Kaisinger (University of Salzburg), who assists our team with website and social media maintenance and is also involved in the organization of our 2014 workshop in Salzburg.
3. NEW WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES_____________________________________________
As some of you might have already noticed, AYA has recently launched its new website, which can be accessed at http://ayaonline.net/. A big thank you goes to former board member and AYA mastermind Michael Fuchs, who signs responsible for the new design.
In addition to the website, AYA can now also be found on Facebook and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/AustriasYoungAmericanists
https://twitter.com/AYA_social
We are looking forward to many new friends and followers!
We are trying to keep the website and our social media appearance as updated as possible by regularly posting calls for papers and scholarships, academic job openings, and event announcements in the field of American Studies. If you have an interesting CfP you would like to distribute, send us a message to [email protected] and we will be happy to share it!
4. THESIS THURSDAY_________________________________________________________________
In addition to distributing CfPs and regular university-related updates, our FB page currently runs a weekly feature called “Thesis Thursday,” in which we present the research projects of our members by posting an abstract of their work. You can find an example here.
If you wish to be featured on “Thesis Thursday,” please let us know at [email protected] or contact us on FB!
5. AYA WORKSHOP 2014: “Multi-Ethnic Voices Shaping US Society and Politics”_________________ The AYA workshop 2014 is tentatively planned to take place in Salzburg (Austria) under the topic “Multi-Ethnic Voices Shaping US Society and Politics: Past, Present and Future.” The workshop is intended to provide an informal, non-threatening setting for early-stage researchers to explore their ideas, present their current research progress, and engage in stimulating discussions with peers. As has been the practice in recent years, the event will be conducted by an international Fulbright scholar.
We specifically encourage PhD students, advanced M.A. students, and other young academics (max. 3 years after defense) from Austrian universities and beyond to participate. Due to the funding generously provided by the U.S. Embassy Vienna, we will be able to cover meals and accommodation expenses.
The tentative time frame for the AYA workshop is early December 2014. A CfP with more detailed information will be distributed as soon as we can confirm the date and the participation of the prospective Fulbright scholar. Please stay tuned for updates – we are looking forward to welcoming many of you in Salzburg!
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We hope you enjoyed reading the first AYA newsletter and will stay tuned for more updates. There will not be a monthly newsletter from now on, but we intend to keep you informed about relevant AYA news, especially as concerns our planned workshop in December 2014. If you wish to join our regular mailing list, please contact us directly at [email protected] and we will be happy to add your email address to the listserv. Please feel free to distribute this newsletter widely and send us your compliments, suggestions or complaints. We are looking forward to your feedback! Best wishes from the AYA team, Cornelia, Judith, Martina, Miriam and Saskia
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Email: [email protected] Website: http://ayaonline.net/ Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AustriasYoungAmericanists Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AYA_social