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Dear AYA members and friends,

Welcome to the first newsletter of Austrias Young Americanists (AYA), in which we will inform you
of the following updates:

1. AYA membership
2. New AYA board
3. New website and social media pages
4. Thesis Thursday
5. AYA Workshop 2014 in Salzburg (Austria): Multi-Ethnic Voices Shaping US Society and
Politics: Past, Present and Future


1. AYA MEMBERSHIP_________________________________________________________________

Good news: AYA membership will of course remain free of charge! We are not officially listed as a
registered society (eingetragener Verein), so membership is neither compulsory nor strictly
regulated. Our chief purpose is to provide a network of young scholars in the field of American
Studies at Austrian universities and enhance the communication among them by offering informal
events and workshops. While AYA chiefly addresses PhD candidates, we also invite advanced M.A.
students and early-stage post-doctoral researchers to join our community, both from Austria and
abroad. If you know young academics who might be interested in joining AYA, please spread the
word. We are always happy to welcome new members to our network!

Not yet an AYA member? In order to apply for membership, simply send us an abstract (about 250
words) of your current research project (M.A. / PhD / post-doctoral thesis) and a short bio note to
contact@ayaonline.net. By doing so, you agree to have your information published on our website
and our social media pages. If dont wish to do so, please let us know in your email.

Are you already an AYA member? We invite all current members to update their abstracts and
biographical information that are published on our website. Simply send us your updates to
contact@ayaonline.net. Please also let us know when you graduate, so we can celebrate the
completed thesis with you!


2. NEW AYA BOARD__________________________________________________________________

In fall 2013, the AYA team was reshuffled. It now consists of one board member from each Austrian
university, in order to represent our national American Studies Departments. The new team
members and their current roles in the AYA board are as follows:

Cornelia Klecker, University of Innsbruck: assistance with any workshop-related questions, funding
Judith Kohlenberger, University of Vienna: website and social media, newsletter
Martina Koegeler-Abdi, University of Graz: AYA workshop organization 2015 in Graz
Miriam H. Auer, University of Klagenfurt: newsletter
Saskia Frst, University of Salzburg: AYA workshop organization 2014 in Salzburg

You can find photos and brief bio notes of the new board here.



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Special thanks go to former board members Simone Puff (formerly University of Klagenfurt), Leopold
Lippert (University of Vienna / University of Graz) and Michael Fuchs (University of Graz) for their
dedicated work as AYA representatives. We also wish to acknowledge the support of Yvonne
Kaisinger (University of Salzburg), who assists our team with website and social media maintenance
and is also involved in the organization of our 2014 workshop in Salzburg.


3. NEW WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES_____________________________________________

As some of you might have already noticed, AYA has recently launched its new website, which can be
accessed at http://ayaonline.net/. A big thank you goes to former board member and AYA
mastermind Michael Fuchs, who signs responsible for the new design.

In addition to the website, AYA can now also be found on Facebook and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/AustriasYoungAmericanists
https://twitter.com/AYA_social
We are looking forward to many new friends and followers!

We are trying to keep the website and our social media appearance as updated as possible by
regularly posting calls for papers and scholarships, academic job openings, and event
announcements in the field of American Studies. If you have an interesting CfP you would like to
distribute, send us a message to contact@ayaonline.net and we will be happy to share it!


4. THESIS THURSDAY_________________________________________________________________

In addition to distributing CfPs and regular university-related updates, our FB page currently runs a
weekly feature called Thesis Thursday, in which we present the research projects of our members
by posting an abstract of their work. You can find an example here.

If you wish to be featured on Thesis Thursday, please let us know at contact@ayaonline.net or
contact us on FB!


5. AYA WORKSHOP 2014: Multi-Ethnic Voices Shaping US Society and Politics_________________

The AYA workshop 2014 is tentatively planned to take place in Salzburg (Austria) under the topic
Multi-Ethnic Voices Shaping US Society and Politics: Past, Present and Future. The workshop is
intended to provide an informal, non-threatening setting for early-stage researchers to explore their
ideas, present their current research progress, and engage in stimulating discussions with peers. As
has been the practice in recent years, the event will be conducted by an international Fulbright
scholar.

We specifically encourage PhD students, advanced M.A. students, and other young academics (max.
3 years after defense) from Austrian universities and beyond to participate. Due to the funding
generously provided by the U.S. Embassy Vienna, we will be able to cover meals and
accommodation expenses.

The tentative time frame for the AYA workshop is early December 2014. A CfP with more detailed
information will be distributed as soon as we can confirm the date and the participation of the
prospective Fulbright scholar. Please stay tuned for updates we are looking forward to welcoming
many of you in Salzburg!


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We hope you enjoyed reading the first AYA newsletter and will stay tuned for more updates. There
will not be a monthly newsletter from now on, but we intend to keep you informed about relevant
AYA news, especially as concerns our planned workshop in December 2014. If you wish to join our
regular mailing list, please contact us directly at contact@ayaonline.net and we will be happy to add
your email address to the listserv.

Please feel free to distribute this newsletter widely and send us your compliments, suggestions or
complaints. We are looking forward to your feedback!


Best wishes from the AYA team,

Cornelia, Judith, Martina, Miriam and Saskia

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Email: contact@ayaonline.net
Website: http://ayaonline.net/
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