When the SAH Board met in November 2014 in Chicago, they were very much in favor of SAH holding its
2017 Annual International Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. It would be the first time that SAH met outside North America since 1973, when we planned a joint meeting in Cambridge with SAH-GB. There are many reasons to support the decision, including SAH’s desire to represent the increasingly international focus of the organization and its Annual International Conference, and the hope that SAH members in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia would be able to attend in larger numbers.
One concern among the SAH Board, however, was that North American graduate students would be at a financial disadvantage and might not be able to afford to attend an SAH conference in Scotland. SAH currently offers approximately $25,000 in
Annual Conference Fellowships, and graduate students are eligible for many, including the Berry, Collins, Keepers, Kostof, Kress, Opler, SAH, and Willis Fellowships.
Responding to the real concern that we do not want to disadvantage some of our most financially vulnerable members, two SAH Board members generously volunteered to donate $3,000 each to enable six North American graduate students to participate in the Glasgow conference.
As one of the donors,
Abby Smith Rumsey, said, “The opportunity to travel— to see new landscapes, develop new friendships, and expand the horizons of personal experience—is crucial for architectural historians. For younger colleagues in particular, there is no substitute.”
We are grateful that two generous SAH Board members helped solve one of SAH’s most daunting issues—how to help graduate students take advantage of the professional and personal advancement afforded by attending the SAH Annual Conference. The SAH Board and members join me in thanking them for their generosity and for recognizing that SAH would like to do more to assist graduate students, emerging scholars, adjuncts, contingent faculty, and others who are most in need of financial support to launch their careers. If you would like to join them in helping to support the future leadership of SAH, please contact me directly at
psaliga@sah.org or 312.573.1365.
Pauline Saliga
Executive Director
