Letter from Vyta Baselice to Students: SAH Data Project Survey Closes August 15

The SAH Data Project project team would like to thank Vyta Baselice, SAH's Board of Directors Graduate Student Representative, for the following statement about the value of a robust student data set. If you are not a student yourself, we hope you will share her letter widely with the students and recent graduates you may know.

Dear fellow students,

It is a pleasure to begin my tenure on the SAH Board of Directors as the Graduate Student Representative. I am excited to continue the great work the organization has done in expanding opportunities for graduate students at the conference and beyond—efforts that are especially important during this time of crisis.

I am reaching out with our most urgent business at the moment—the SAH Data Project's Student Survey, which closes on August 15, 2020. The initiative gathers quantitative and qualitative information about the status of architectural history as a field in higher education in the United States. Please make sure you take the time to complete this survey. As students—whether we are undergraduates or graduates—we want to count, we want to make sure that our voices are heard. One way to accomplish this is to ensure that SAH understands the varied educational and professional experiences architectural history students have across the United States. What courses do you have access to? What are your research interests? What are the various ways in which your department supports you and your work? What is missing from your educational experience? To begin to grasp the richness and diversity of our student community, from community college students to doctoral candidates, we must first collect data.

If you are a graduate student and also serve as the instructor of record for architectural history-related courses, please make sure to complete the SAH Data Project’s Faculty Survey as well. While we are often considered to be students first, many of us spend countless hours teaching and mentoring undergraduates through various educational and professional trajectories. By completing the faculty survey, you will share with SAH the challenges and opportunities you have had as a contingent faculty member.

Thanks for your participation at SAH events and for making students count! If you have any questions about the survey or the SAH Data Project more broadly, feel free to reach out to me at vytabaselice@gwu.edu or the project researcher, Sarah M. Dreller, at sdeller@sah.org.

In solidarity,

Vyta Baselice
Graduate Student Representative, Board of Directors, Society of Architectural Historians (2020–2023)
PhD Candidate, American Studies, George Washington University