Call for Participation in SAH Committees for the 2025-2026 Term

Apr 9, 2025 by SAH News

Serving on an SAH Committee is an excellent way to support the causes you care about in a hands-on way and build new relationships within the architectural history community. The Society of Architectural Historians invites members to apply to serve on a variety of committees including awards, fellowships, and other standing or working committees in 2025-2026. We seek a breadth of voices, viewpoints, and experience on our committees. This call discusses how committees are formed, committee member’s responsibilities, length of the service commitment, and the preferred skills of an applicant.

The President of the Society reviews all applications, appoints committee members, and selects the committee chair(s).  The president consults with others as needed to ensure the best fit of applicants on each committee. Term lengths vary depending on the committee.

Committee members must be current SAH members for the duration of their committee service. Some committees require certain qualifications as noted below. All committee members must adhere to the SAH Process for Committee Review of SAH Fellowships, Awards and Grants.

Self-nominations should include a brief statement (no more than 150 words) describing the applicant’s qualifications and relevant experience and a CV (no more than 2 pages). You may apply for up to three committees but will be asked to serve on only one, if accepted. If you apply to serve on multiple committees, please indicate your preferred committee. Preference will be given to first-time nominees for committee participation.


The deadline to submit your interest is Monday, May 5, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CDT. 

SUBMIT YOUR INTEREST

Notices will be sent in early June.

 

Publications and Video/Film Award Committees

Please visit https://www.sah.org/jobs-and-careers/award-programs for details on each award’s area of focus.

Alice Davis Hitchcock Book Award Committee: 3 members

Antoinette Forrester Downing Book Award Committee: 3 members

SAH Exhibition Catalogue Award Committee: 3 members

Spiro Kostof Book Award Committee: 3 members

Elisabeth Blair MacDougall Book Award Committee: 3 members

Founders' JSAH Article Award Committee: 3 members

SAH Award for Film and Video Committee: 3 members

Qualifications: Members of publications and film awards committee should have published a peer-reviewed article or book as appropriate and have expertise connected to the nature of each award. The term is one year, nonrenewable.

Workload: Members will review, in a timely fashion, books, articles, or films submitted for consideration. The number of submissions varies per award but can be between 10 to 30 items. (Please note that some publishers only submit electronic versions of books at the present time). Committees will collectively select the award winner after reading each entry and then draft a citation that will be given to the awardee and read at the SAH Awards Celebration at the annual conference.

  • June–July 2025: Books/films submitted for review
  • August–December 2025: Committee reviews submissions and deliberates
  • December 31, 2025: Award decision deadline
  • January 31, 2026: Award citation due

 

Fellowship and Dissertation Award Committees

Please visit https://www.sah.org/jobs-and-careers/sah-fellowships-and-grants/research-fellowships for descriptions of most fellowships. Those not found on this page have their own link below.

Committee members for fellowship and dissertation awards will usually be senior members of the organization, with expertise in guiding advanced work in academia and heritage conservation. Applications may number 10–60 and vary according to award. Committees will usually have 1–4 months to complete their review and report recipients to SAH staff.  (Please note that timelines may vary slightly from what is indicated below). The term is one-year nonrenewable.

Timeline: 7/31/2025 applications due, 12/1/2025 decision made

HABS-SAH Sally Kress Tompkins Fellowship: 2 members

Timeline: 12/31/2025 applications due, 1/31/2026 decision made

Charles E. Peterson Fellowship of the Buildings of the United States and the Athenaeum of Philadelphia: 3 members (1 emerging scholar preferred)

            Timeline: 12/31/2025 applications due, 2/28/2026 decision made

SAH Annual Conference Fellowships: 3 members

            Timeline: 8/15/2025 applications due, 9/22/2025 decisions made

Edilia and François-Auguste de Montêquin Fellowship: 3 members

            Timeline: 9/30/2025 applications dues, 12/1/2025 decisions made

SAH IDEAS Research Fellowship: Reviewed by the SAH IDEAS Committee

Timeline: 8/31/2025 applications close, 12/1/2025 decisions made

H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship: 3 Members

            Timeline: 8/31/2025 applications close, 12/1/2025 decisions made

 

Standing and Ad Hoc Committees

Standing committees of the Society are set out in “Article IX – Standing and Ad Hoc Committees” of our bylaws and include: Budget and Audit; Development; Investment; SAH IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accountability, and Sustainability); and Nominating.

Other committees may be created as needed; at this moment these Ad Hoc Committees include Graduate Student Advisory; Heritage Conservation; Membership; and those related to our publications including JSAH Editorial, SAH Archipedia/BUS Editorial.

Unless otherwise indicated, membership in each Standing and Ad Hoc committee is for a two-year term, renewable twice for a total of six years maximum. Some committees do not need members at this time; therefore, they are not included in the call below. Calls for some SAH committees are issued at other times of the year than this call and will be shared with membership as needed.

Budget and Audit: 2-3 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The SAH Budget and Audit Committee works with SAH staff and leadership to review proposed annual budgets, quarterly budget to actual reports, and draft audit reports. Experience with budgets and financial statements is preferred for this role.

Contingent Faculty Committee: 2 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The Contingent Faculty Committee was formed with the objective of developing strategies and hosting events to better support contingent faculty who are members of SAH. For the purposes of this committee, contingent faculty is defined widely, including any faculty and scholars who are not in tenure-track positions. The committee welcomes applications from contingent faculty at all points in their careers, from emerging scholars to established faculty. The committee meets regularly on a monthly or bimonthly schedule.

Graduate Student Advisory Committee: 2 members 

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The GSAC meets monthly, on the first Friday of each month. GSAC members will be involved in planning and running a broad range of activities for the Society of Architectural Historians and its graduate student community. These could include the Graduate Student Lightning Talks, online workshops, book clubs, discussions, keynote speaker conversations, panels on professional development, publishing, and other events that focus on the graduate school experience more broadly. The GSAC seeks graduate student members who will add to the intellectual, racial, ethnic, disciplinary, and geographic diversity of the Committee. Graduate students from non-United States-based programs and students with interdisciplinary backgrounds are welcome to apply.

Heritage Conservation: 2 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: Preserving important structures, landscapes, and other aspects of the built environment is a key tenet of the Society of Architectural Historians' mission. As a matter of policy, the Society only becomes involved in preservation issues of national or international significance. The SAH Heritage Conservation Committee meets monthly via virtual conferencing to discuss buildings and landscapes at risk. Expertise and knowledge of the diverse nature of architectural heritage, conservation and/or preservation is essential. Graduate students and emerging professionals are encouraged to apply.

SAH Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accountability, and Sustainability (SAH IDEAS) Committee: 6 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The IDEAS Committee works with the SAH Board to devise sustainable DEI strategies for SAH and makes recommendations for actions to promote meaningful change within the Society. We strongly encourage women, BIPOC, and members of the LGBTQ community to apply. This includes members who are from outside of the U.S. and global north, who work outside the academy, and who have contingent employment.

In this cycle we seek to diversify the levels of academic seniority within the IDEAS Committee, by calling on senior faculty, scholars, and professionals to apply, as well as junior, contingent and otherwise under-represented groups (women, BIPOC, LGBTQ community).

The SAH IDEAS Committee meets monthly, currently on Fridays at 11am CST, (the meeting time is at the discretion of the committee and subject to change depending on members’ time zone and preference) and we request a minimum of 75% attendance to all meetings. Committee members serve a two-year term beginning in April. The IDEAS Committee this year will also be electing two Co-Chairs and forming sub-committees to complete ad-hoc tasks. A 30-minute open information session webinar will be held on April 26th at 12pm CST which will cover all aspects of work with the committee.

Investment Committee: 3 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The SAH Investment Committee works with SAH staff, leadership, and investment advisors to review SAH investment policies and performance of the Society’s investments. Members with experience handling endowments and investments are encouraged to apply. The committee meets quarterly by video conference.

JSAH Editorial Advisory Committee: 2 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The JSAH Editorial Advisory Committee advises the Journal’s editor and assists them in promoting the Journal to potential readers and authors, suggesting peer reviewers to the editor, and acting as peer reviewers. Members of the Editorial Advisory Committee shall provide advice to the editor, who maintains final decision-making authority. Candidates must be current SAH members, may not serve simultaneously on the Society’s Board of Directors, and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal. Members may not publish their own work in JSAH during the term of service. The Committee will meet at least once a year with the editor and associate editor at the Society’s Annual International Conference and by video conference periodically. Committee members serve a four-year term.

Membership Committee: 2 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications:  The SAH Membership Committee is tasked with strategizing about increasing membership numbers and revenues, decreasing non renewals, and winning back past members. The Committee aims to keep members engaged by providing needed services, resources, and programs, including Member Meetups, which help members connect with one another and explore a variety of topics. The Committee awards about 20 Membership Grants for Emerging Professionals annually. The Committee meets virtually as many as six times a year. SAH members in all professions and at all levels of experience are welcome.

SAH Board and Officer Nominating Committee: 4 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: The Committee is tasked with working year-round to advertise, cultivate, recruit, and encourage nominations to the Society’s Board of Directors. Work will begin immediately for this committee in June 2025 and go through April 2026. The committee meets regularly as needed to select the new slate of officers and board members for election by October 15th.

SAH Connects Advisory Committee: 3 members

Tasks, Time Commitment, and Qualifications: monthly email (when submissions received) to review and select proposals for the SAH Connects programming. Preference will be given to programs that have the support of the Affiliate Groups. Preference will be given to topics that are related to current events, recent exhibitions, and/or recent publications. An SAH CONNECTS program should not mimic the form and content of a SAH Conference session, but rather should employ formats such as discussions, panels, roundtables, and workshops.