Having successfully fulfilled many of the promises and expectations of our last strategic plan, which was developed in 2013 by the Association’s leadership, and fresh from celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, the AJS initiated the formulation of a new strategic plan for the next three years. Spearheaded by AJS President Christine Hayes and Executive Director Warren Hoffman, the strategic planning process began in the summer of 2018 with a comprehensive survey of its membership intended to identify areas toward which the Association should turn its efforts. Building on that survey and a series of discussions within the Board of Directors, a strategic planning committee worked to develop a new set of priorities that will guide the AJS’s activities and resources over the next three years. The process also drew upon the valuable work of several task forces that were convened to address issues pertaining to Sexual Misconduct, Diversity and Inclusion, Professional Development, Membership Engagement, and, as of summer 2019, Contingent Faculty. The priorities of the new strategic plan focus on improving the organization’s transparency and encouraging broader participation by its members, embracing and nurturing the diversity of its members, embracing and nurturing the diversity of its members, exercising more deliberate leadership in the future of the field, and taking an active role in broader public discourse.
The Strategic Planning Committee was comprised of the following members of the Board of Directors: Jeffrey Shoulson, chair (University of Connecticut); Jason Kalman (HUC/JIR); Laura Leibman (Reed College); Andrea Lieber (Dickinson College); Michael Meyer (HUC/JIR). We also owe thanks to several learned society and foundation professionals, as well as experts in academic publishing and the state of the humanities. Please let us know what you think about these priorities; you will certainly be hearing more about these initiatives in the months to come.
