Editor's Page

Huzzah!

Three cheers and more for Roderick McDonald, whose steady editorial hand is present here for nearly the last time. Roderick has taken the journal from Indiana to Pennsylvania, arranged relations with a new press, found a welcoming home for the JER at the Library Company of Philadelphia, overseen a radical redesign of the journal, and dealt with the many-faceted problems and opportunities arising from rapid technological change. And he has done all this while maintaining the high standards for which the JER is justly known. Congratulations on a job well done.

Transitions

With this issue, Temple University joins the consortium supporting SHEAR in Philadelphia. Special thanks go to History Department chairs Drew Isenberg and Will Hitchcock for their enthusiastic support. Among the generous benefits to the JER is a graduate editorial intern with a spacious office of her/his own—for 2009–2010, Brenna O'Rourke will be working with Kate Tyler Wall and myself. Do introduce yourselves when at the conference in Rochester or stop by the eighth and ninth floors of Gladfelter Hall at Temple when in Philadelphia.

A New Opportunity for Graduate Students!

Beginning with the 2010 SHEAR meeting in Rochester, New York, SHEAR will offer assistance with conference travel for graduate students who have papers accepted for inclusion in the annual meeting program. Six grants of $250 each will be awarded annually. In addition, each award grant recipient will have his or her conference registration fee waived. All currently enrolled PhD students who have had papers accepted for the meeting may apply for the awards by submitting a short application, a copy of the conference presentation abstract, and a CV. Proof of current enrollment will be required.

Selection will be based primarily on the merit of the planned presentation. No student may win more than one award during the tenure of his or her graduate program. Award decisions will be made by a three-person subcommittee of the conference program committee, headed by the program committee chair.

Here are the eligibility requirements:

Notification will be sent to award winners by March 1, 2010. Recipients are required to be members of SHEAR. Travel grant checks will be presented upon check-in at the conference registration desk.

Application materials will become available in early January at the SHEAR conference website at http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/ctfriend/SHEAR1.htm.