World History: The Next Ten Years

"World History: The Next Ten Years will assemble leading junior and senior scholars, teachers, and other professionals associated with world history, to assess the remarkable advances in the study of world history over the past ten years, and to discuss priorities and plans for the decade to come.

The expansion in enrollment and employment in world history at secondary and college levels, make it certain that world history is gaining permanence and recognition as a field (or set of fields) within historical studies. Such advances, while encouraging to world-historical enthusiasts, only make more evident the deficiencies in the field. Aside from a remarkable string of awards by the National Endowment for the Humanities, there has been little funding of curriculum development or professional development in world history. Permanent and part-time positions in world history - in universities and in schools - are filled consistently by applicants without formal training in world history. No research funds support world history, except in the form of area studies.

The conference organizers, in response to both the strengths and weaknesses in world history, seek to assemble those knowledgeable in the study of world history to undertake a weekend of diagnosis, and to provide an opportunity for developing proposals that will strengthen the field intellectually and institutionally. The practitioners are expected to come from several overlapping groups.

• Researchers in world history, including senior scholars and especially junior scholars specializing in world history.
  
• Directors of graduate programs, including faculty in history, education, and other fields, who are seeking to establish or strengthen programs of training for researchers, college teachers, secondary and middle-school teachers.
  
• Teachers of world history at secondary and college level.
  
• Professional development staff based in museums, global-studies and area-studies outreach centers, and education schools.
  
• Leaders of other institutions affecting the study of world history, including publishers, testing agencies, governmental and philanthropic funding agencies.