As a new academic year begins, please take a few minutes to consider ways the SAH can heighten its impact, broaden its reach, and contribute effectively to discussions that shape scholarly inquiry and public discourse on the built environment. In order for SAH to better support your needs and interests, we welcome candid, thoughtful feedback from all our members. Please spend five minutes and take the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YSJLTHL
At the core of the Society’s mission is a commitment to advancing scholarship and to fostering understanding of the built environment—the factors, agents and ideas that shape it; the ways it acts and is acted upon. Our annual conference brings together scholars from around the world and serves as a showcase for our host communities.
JSAH is a flagship for publishing the very best new research and is internationally recognized as a leading, peer-reviewed scholarly resource. Whether in the library or from a laptop, the BUS series and our digital initiatives (
JSAH online; SAHARA;
SAH Archipedia; SAH website) are aids for deepening inquiry, while SAH study tours and study days offer unique opportunities to visit sites and meet with specialists on the ground. Finally, SAH provides an array of awards, fellowships and grants to help defray the cost of conference attendance, support new and innovative research, and recognize outstanding scholarly achievement.
As our Society thrives and leads the way in its many endeavors, we seek to anticipate emerging needs and to embrace new ideas that hold out the promise of enhancing our core activities and furthering the work of our members. What is the place of a scholarly society in a rapidly changing academic and publishing landscape? How can SAH best position itself to capitalize on new opportunities, to meet new challenges, and to support our members as the very nature of research and employment are profoundly transformed?
Responses to the following questionnaire will be discussed at the next meeting of the SAH board on November 7 and a preliminary report will be presented to members by SAH president Ken Breisch at the 2016 conference in Pasadena. Until then, thank you for your ongoing commitment to the Society and for taking the time to think through how SAH can best move forward. Any member wishing to further elaborate on their ideas is welcome to contact me directly at
cda68@pitt.edu.
Drew Armstrong
University of Pittsburgh
