The Third Annual Texas A & M History conference, sponsored by the Sigma Rho Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta and the Texas A&M History Graduate Student Organization, will take place on the Texas A & M University-College Station campus on Friday, February 24, and Saturday, February 25, 2012. This year’s conference has been expanded to two days, both of which will feature panels for graduate and undergraduate students to present their research to an audience of peers and subject experts. On Friday evening, Dr. Gaines Foster, Professor of History at Louisiana State University and author of Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1913, will provide the keynote address. Saturday’s luncheon will feature a talk by Dr. Graydon A. “Jack” Tunstall, Executive Director of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society.

Undergraduate and Graduate students who are interested in presenting are asked to submit a 250 word (maximum) abstract and curriculum vitae to historyconference@tamu.edu by Wednesday, December 14, 2011. Notification of acceptance will occur by January 6, 2012 and accepted applicants will have until February 3, 2012 to submit completed papers (not to exceed ten pages) to historyconference@tamu.edu.

Graduate students will serve as commentators for undergraduate panels in their respective specialty fields. Any graduate student interested in serving as a commentator should submit a one-page CV by January 15, 2012.

A panel of judges will select one Ph.D. paper, one M.A. paper, and one undergraduate paper to receive cash awards in recognition of excellence. Inquiries for additional conference information can be directed to historyconference@tamu.edu.

Please note: This is an interdisciplinary conference and we welcome proposals from graduate and undergraduate students from fields outside history who approach historical topics from complementary viewpoints. Presenters need not be members of Phi Alpha Theta to participate.