It's been an incredibly fun job to run ProgressiveHistorians for the past two and a half years. However, all good things must come to an end. I've known for a while that my nascent dissertation was taking enough of my time that I could no longer justify spending as much time with the blog as I had been, and I decided last month that I would definitely step down by the end of summer 2009. However, I wasn't sure whether I would be able to recruit a successor to take on the site, and there was a definite possibility I'd have to shut down the blog.
Thankfully, it didn't come to that. And today I'm pleased and honored to announce ProgressiveHistorians' new proprietor and editor: Andrew McMichael. Andrew, who's been posting on the site as "AndrewMC," is an associate professor of history at Western Kentucky University who specializes in the colonial American Atlantic world. He's written two scholarly books, one of them on digital history, and was an assistant editor of the Papers of Thomas Jefferson at Princeton University. In addition, he's been actively involved with promoting digital history since 1990 -- he became the American Historical Association's first webmaster in 1994. He also writes for Daily Kos and is a committed movement progressive.
With Andrew at the helm, the future of ProgressiveHistorians looks very bright. I'm confident that you'll be pleased with his leadership of the site. He's got the time, energy, and new ideas to devote to the site that I no longer have. I'll continue to participate in the site as a writer and commenter, and will be available for personal communication via e-mail.
I can't tell you how honored I've been to serve at the helm of this enterprise since its inception in 2006. What began as the pipe dream of a frustrated young professional has blossomed into one of the twenty-five most widely read history blogs in the world (yes, I've crunched the numbers). It's been a great pleasure to participate in a community of such intelligent, insightful, and friendly people. I'm very proud of what we've achieved, and I'm confident going forward that ProgressiveHistorians will continue to grow and improve while bringing you the thoughtful content you've come to expect. Thank you all, and keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Young
Founder, ProgressiveHistorians.com
Labels: Jeremy Young
I rather thought that would be your announcement and it was confirmed when I looked over on the right hand column and saw you listed as Founder and Andrew as Editor yesterday afternoon, before your posting went up. Understandable, of course. Still, I'll miss seeing you at the helm. You were a very good blog host. Don't rule out government work after you complete your doctorate, you seem to have the good people skills that might make you fit in well! I enjoyed reading Andrew's posting on AHA and job seekers and look forward to seeing his future postings.
All my very best wishes to a very smart and talented young historian who caught my eye with his writings a couple of years ago on your original group blog and on HNN, and later here. I'm *sure* you have a great career ahead of you!
Maarja
Thanks to all of you for your well-wishes. Daisy, I owe you a pretty thorough apology for taking off after you in e-mail and previous posts. That's one of the things about my tenure at PH that I regret the most. And Maarja, thanks for the suggestion regarding government work, though I think I'll pass -- the nine-to-five workweek isn't really for me.
Three cheers for Jeremy and Andrew!
Hip, hip, Hooray!