The 17th annual Western History Dissertation Workshop will be held May 18-19, 2023, at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Five advanced western history Ph.D. students will be selected to present a chapter of their work to a collegial group of 10-12 leading scholars from participating institutions across the United States, listed below. Applicants who are most likely to benefit from this workshop are those who have completed a few chapters of their dissertation and who expect to defend sometime in 2023. Selected participants will share a chapter (of no more than fifty pages) at the workshop and receive feedback from other participants and from senior scholars affiliated with the sponsoring institutions.

This year’s workshop is hosted by the University of Kansas. KU will pay travel expenses for up to five advanced graduate students writing a dissertation exploring any topic dealing with the history and culture of the American West. The workshop is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington; the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico; the University of California-Los Angeles Department of History; the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West; the Research Division of the Huntington Library; the Hemispheric Institute on the Americas at the University of California-Davis; the Center of the American West/University of Colorado Boulder Department of History; the University of Nebraska Department of History; the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University; the Pennsylvania State University History Department; the Princeton University History Department; and the Center for American History at the University of Kansas.

To apply, please provide a brief cover letter, a short CV, and a dissertation prospectus/description of not more than two single-spaced pages. Your cover letter should indicate which chapter of your dissertation you intend to circulate for the workshop. Send all items in a single PDF document to Andrew Isenberg (isenberg@ku.edu). Please arrange for your dissertation adviser to send a letter of recommendation via email to Andrew Isenberg as well; that letter should address the significance and the status of the dissertation to date.

Applications are due March 3, 2023, and participants will be notified of their selection by March 31. Selected applicants must submit a complete draft of a dissertation chapter for distribution to the group by April 17.

Questions about the workshop and/or application process should be directed to Andrew Isenberg (isenberg@ku.edu).