September 2007: UCSB History Associates Celebrates 20th Anniversary. The departmental support group has been bringing historians and community members together since 1987.

The departmental support group has been bringing historians and community members together since 1987.

This year is the 20th anniversary of the UCSB History Associates. The departmental support group was created in 1987 with the dual purpose of bringing members of the community interested in history together with UCSB faculty through an annual program of lunches and lectures, and raising money to support graduate training in History at UCSB.

The History Associates made their first awards–$500 each to three grad students–in October, 1989. These days, the Associates award graduate fellowships and prizes totaling about $50,000 a year. The awards are announced at an annual ceremony in the spring. After finishing their dissertations, History Associates Fellows have gone on to professional positions in academia, and many have won prizes for their publications.

For their 20th anniversary, the History Associates have put together a special program of speakers to give public lectures to the community. In October, for example, UCSB historian Patrick McCray spoke about Sputnik, citizen scientists, and the dawn of the Space Age. Further details about upcoming History Associates events may be found on the History Department Events Page.

The History Associates publishes a quarterly newsletter, Historia, that highlights UCSB History achievements and activities. To download PDF files of recent issues, go to the Historia archive.

For more information, please visit the History Associates web page.