Announcing new editors for the Oral History Review

The Oral History Association is pleased to announce the new editorial team that will assume responsibility for editing and producing the Oral History Review, the leading scholarly journal in the field, published by the Oral History Association and Oxford University Press.

The incoming editorial team— Editor David Caruso, Chemical Heritage Foundation; Managing Editor Abigail Perkiss, Kean University; and Digital Editor Janneken Smucker, West Chester University, will assume responsibility for publication of the OHR in January 2018. Building on the two-person leadership model developed by the current team, Editor Kathy Nasstrom and Managing Editor Troy Reeves, the enlarged three-person group brings their individual expertise and experiences to fulfill the core mission of the OHR, while expanding the international outreach to the larger oral history community and continuing to respond to the changes in academic publishing, social media and digital humanities.

David Caruso is Director of the Center for Oral History at the Chemical Heritage Foundation and is currently serving as theOHR Book Review editor. Abby Perkiss is a member of the History faculty at Kean University and also is the OHR pedagogy editor. Janneken Smucker, West Chester University history faculty, brings her experience in developing innovative digital projects to the role of Digital Editor, affirming the Review’s commitment to digital engagement with oral history content.

As they assume responsibility for the OHR, they are also beginning a search to complete the editorial team, seeking candidates to fill the open positions of Book Review Editor and Pedagogy Editor. Details about these positions and the application process are available on the Oral History Association website at Editor Search.

Stay tuned!  Over the next few months you will be hearing more about the incoming Oral History Review editorial team, their plans for the future, and how you can get involved.

As we move forward, we want to express our thanks and enormous appreciation to Kathy Nasstrom and Troy Reeves, for their vision, innovation, and management of the Oral History Review for the last six years. They assumed responsibility for the production and editorial oversight of the OHR at a time of major changes in scholarly publication and have overseen significant growth of the journal.  They have fostered the journal’s relationship with Oxford, expanded the print content, added an annual section on pedagogy, brought online multimedia content to the journal, initiated a visible social media presence for the OHR, and published an inaugural virtual issue celebrating the Oral History Association’s 50th anniversary. With this legacy, Kathy and Troy leave a solid base on which to further develop the journal across the diverse oral history community, introducing new voices to the conversation on important oral history topics and debates.

A special thanks to the search committee, Martha Norkunas, Middle Tennessee State University, Seth Kotch, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Kathy Nasstrom, current Oral History Review editor, serving as an advisor to the committee. Their thoughtful and considered participation in the search process was invaluable.

Susan McCormick
Chair, OHR Search Committee
Department of History,
University at Albany-SUNY

 

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