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WHA 2026: SUBMIT A PROPOSAL! Follow the directions and work through the process carefully. Scroll through each section below as they are each designed to assist you in this process. |
DEADLINES The WHA's 2026 online abstract submission platform (powered by All Academic, Inc.) will open on September 15, 2025. All submissions are due December 5, 2025 by 11:59 P.M. (Pacific Time).
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CHECKLIST: SESSION ORGANIZERS CONSULT THIS FIRST! This list is updated annually! Click here for a printable copy of this checklist. Checklist for session organizers to submit a full session through the online platform for 2026: 1. First, please confirm that the participants on your session have NOT committed to participate on more than two sessions for the conference. 2. Title for Panel/Workshop/Roundtable (10-12 words max) 3. Group Abstract for Panel/Workshop/Roundtable (250 words in one paragraph) that is clear in its concept, appropriate of participants and component parts, engages with the conference theme, and adds overall value to the program. 4. Individual Presentation Titles from each Participant in the session (10-12 words max). All sessions--panels, roundtables, workshops--need individual titles for presentations to help aid the ranking and scheduling process. The staff will happily remove titles from roundtables and workshops if the session organizer makes this request. 5. Individual Presentation Abstracts from each Participant (150 words in one paragraph) 6. The name of a confirmed participant to serve as the Chair for your session. One Chair is required for all sessions. You may have more than one Chair, and your Chair can also serve as a Commentator if they agree to this request. But your Chair cannot also serve as a Presenter on the session. 7. A Commentator is optional and encouraged for your session but is not required. 8. Are you submitting a “Book Session” or an “Honorific Session”? Not sure? Please consult the WHA’s "Best Practices" for organizing Book Sessions and Honorific Sessions or continue reading below. 9. Three Keywords that describe the topic/theme of your session 10. Audio Visual (AV) or Accessibility Requests (screens and projectors will be provided; presenters bring their own laptops) 11. Indication of a Sponsored Session (most session submissions are *not* sponsored) 12. Session Representation (200 words max; do not leave this field blank or write “NA”): This field seeks to answer the following question regarding the representation of session participants, especially as it pertains to the WHA's Program Committee Statement on the Diversity of Program Participation (see full statement below). Do not leave this field blank.
13. Knowledge of the 2026 travel commitment for all presenters and session participants. (See above: all presenters and session participants must present their work on-site; the conference meeting space will not include Wi-Fi for online/hybrid sessions.) 14. Confirmation that all participants have created or updated their All Academic profiles: As the panel organizer, you may not create or update other people’s profiles. Everyone must do this on their own. 15. The following items are essential factors of the submission process as they allow for efficient communication with program participants who are accepted to present their work at the 2026 conference. The WHA office asks that, as the organizer, you be responsible for making sure your session participants do the following:
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QUESTION 1: First things first...I want to submit my work for the 2026 WHA Conference! What is my first step? *EVERY INdIVIDUAL* MUST FIRST CREATE OR UPDATE THEIR ALL ACADEMIC PROFILEAll session participants and individuals must review, create, or update their own profile on the All Academic site before submitting a session proposal or individual proposal. Your All Academic profile is NOT your "MyWHA" profile on the WHA website. It's an entirely different platform.
*Do not, under any circumstances, review/create/update an All Academic profile on behalf of someone else on your panel. CREATE OR UPDATE ALL ACADEMIC LOGIN |
QUESTION 2: I want to submit my work as an individual paper (not in a panel/workshop/roundtable). What information do I need to prepare before I can submit my paper through the system? 1. Make sure you review/create/update your profile on All Academic, the WHA's online abstract platform.
2. Once logged into the system, click "Submit or Edit a Proposal," then "Submit a new Proposal" 3. Enter the following:
4. You will be asked to add an "author" for the paper. At the bottom of this page, enter your last name and click "search." Find your name in the list and click "Add Presenter." 5. On the final page look over your information and click "Accept and Continue" to submit your abstract. You should receive an automating email from the online system that confirms your submission. | QUESTION 3: I am submitting my work as part of a full session submission, but I am not the panel organizer. How can I prepare my materials to make sure our organizer has everything they need to submit our session on time? 1. Create your All Academic profile: All presenters and participants must review, create, or update your own All Academic profiles. In these profiles, you must recognize that you:
2. Individual Presentation Title (10-12 words max) 3. Individual Presentation Abstract (150 words in one paragraph) 4. FYI: The session Chair or Co-Chairs cannot also serve as Presenters on your session. 5. Check with your session organizer and see what else they might need from you. |
QUESTION 4: I am the session organizer for a group of people. How do I submit a full panel/workshop/roundtable through the system once I have gathered all materials on the Checklist? 1. Make sure you review/update/create your All Academic profile. 2. Do you have all the material from the above checklist and are you ready to submit your panel? Great! Then proceed... 3. Log into the WHA 2026 All Academic website and click "Submit or Edit a Proposal," then "Submit a New Proposal." Select "Session." 4. Enter all information required on the form for Panels/Workshops/Roundtables. (Again, you should have collected and organized this information using the checklist included in item "1" above). 5. Add your session presenters: Click "Add Paper" to enter the presentation titles and abstracts for each participant. On the next page search for the author's last name to add them as a Presenter on your Panel/Workshop/Roundtable. 6. After you add each presenter, add the name of your Chair and Commentator.
8. Worth Repeating: Your session Chair cannot also serve as a Presenter on your session. Your Chair should hold a stand-alone role on your panel unless they also agree to serve as your Commentator. 9. Does your session appear in the order it should? Place the Chair first, and then the participant names in the order of their presentations. Paper titles should appear underneath the names of session participants. 10. On the final page look over your information and click "Accept and Continue" to submit your abstract. Your session should look like this:
11. You and your session participants will receive a confirmation email from All Academic after you complete the submission process. |
QUESTION 6: Can I begin working on my proposal, save it, and return to the site later to edit it before submitting the final version? No, but yes. You must first submit your proposal through the system. Once you have submitted it and received a confirmation email, you can go back into the system at any time prior to the CFP deadline (December 5) to edit your session abstract, add participants, and make other revisions. There is NOT a function to "save" your work. Submit it first, then return to edit it. Remember, you will be unable to edit your submission after the CFP deadline, so please make sure your information is accurate on December 5. | QUESTION 7: What’s the difference between roundtables, workshops, and panels? How do I know what kind of session I should submit? If you wish to ensure your session is understood as a Roundtable or Workshop, please incorporate these words into your session title. Otherwise, the review committee and staff will consider your session a standard Panel. **All session types—panel, roundtable, workshop--require titles for participants to assist the review committee in the ranking process.** A standard PANEL is a presentation-style session with 3-4 participants who deliver timed presentations (12-20 minutes). For an example of a standard panel see the highlighted panel from a past conference here: Outside the Lines: Latinx Sporting Lives. The ROUNDTABLE has a format that is centered on a central topic or theme and includes several participants. For an example see "State of the Field: Environmental History in the American West." The WORKSHOP is a session focused on methods, training, or practicum and usually involves audience participation. See "Race and Ethnicity in Public History: A Workshop on Community Collaboration Engagement and Partnerships" for an example. | QUESTION 8: Can I be on more than one session on the 2026 Conference Program? Except in special circumstances, no single person should participate in more than two conference sessions. Please do not agree to serve on more than two sessions, regardless of your session role as chair, comment, or presenter. If you are asked to join a session but find yourself already over-committed on other sessions, it would be *stellar professional courtesy* to point the requester in the direction of a student or scholar who is doing similar work who would be a good fit for the session. Here is some of that *stellar professional courtesy* language you can borrow! "I am sorry, I am already committed to two sessions for the 2026 conference program, but Superstar X, Superstar Y, and Superstar Z are doing similar work and would be an excellent fit for your proposed session!" The only people who are exempt from this practice are individuals who have been asked by the 2026 President to serve on a Presidential Panel or Plenary. |
BEST PRACTICES AND POLICIES The following includes a list of the WHA's Policies and Best Practices to guide the Program Committee in making selections for the annual conference program. Please review these Council-approved guidelines carefully. For a printable version of this list click here.
Policy: Program Participants and Conference Registration It is WHA policy that all conference participants (chairs, presenters, workshop leaders, plenary and session speakers, and commentators) must register for the annual conference. WHA Council has an additional policy on conference participation and registration. Conference participants who do not register for the annual conference, or who fail to show up to the conference without alerting the WHA office, will be included on a report that is forwarded to the next three WHA Program Committee Chairs*. This policy was created to address participant cancellation and encourage individuals to follow-through with professional commitments. (*No-shows in 2026 will be forwarded to 2027, 2028, and 2029 chairs.) Policy: Diversity of Program Participants Statement 1) The Program Committee will actively promote the full and equitable inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities, diverse Indigeneities, religious minorities, people with disabilities, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with various ranks and career paths on the Annual Meeting program. 2) Although not all sessions can reflect the entire diversity of the profession, the Program Committee will encourage proposers of sessions to include diverse sets of participants, addressing gender diversity, racial and ethnic diversity, sexual diversity, religious diversity, disability-based diversity, and/or LGBTQ+ diversity. 3) The Program Committee will encourage session proposers to consider the benefits of including on their panels historians in various career paths and of various ranks (i.e., senior scholars, public historians, graduate students, independent historians, etc.) within their organizations/institutions. Policy: Program Committee Confidentiality All deliberations of the Program Committee (which include, but are not limited to, ranking sessions and papers, evaluating sessions and papers, and making recommendations to strengthen sessions and papers for the annual program) remain completely confidential. Best Practices: Program Participant Repeaters Except in special circumstances, no single person should participate in more than two conference sessions. Please do not agree to serve on more than two sessions, regardless of your session role as chair, comment, or presenter. If you are asked to join a session but find yourself already over-committed on other sessions, it would be *stellar professional courtesy* to point the requester in the direction of a student or scholar who is doing similar work who would be a good fit for the session. Here is some of that *stellar professional courtesy* language you can borrow! "I am sorry, I am already committed to two sessions for the 2026 conference program, but Superstar X, Superstar Y, and Superstar Z are doing similar work and would be an excellent fit for your proposed session!" The only people who are exempt from this practice are individuals who have been asked by the President to serve on a Presidential Panel or Plenary.
Best Practices: Criteria for Honorific Sessions (sessions that honor an individual) A. The individual being honored must be or have been a long-time WHA member in good standing. To prove this, the conference submission must include the (estimated) years of an individual’s membership and an overview of their WHA-related activities. The Program Committee is within the right to verify this information with the WHA’s records in the executive office. B. The session must adhere to the WHA’s Code of Conduct and Enforcement Policy. To this end, the session should not exhibit any overlying power structures that suggest an individual or individuals were coerced into creating and organizing the session out of intimidation. C. The session must adhere to the WHA’s official policy on the Diversity of Session Participants (see above) that the Program Committee uses when evaluating all program sessions. D. The Program Committee maintains the right to recruit an honorific session to expand the diversity of honored individuals. E. The Program Committee will typically consider no more than two or three honorary sessions per conference program. F. If a session is accepted under the requirements of item “A/B/C/D” there is an understanding with the panel organizers that the WHA will not arrange for book signings, sales, and displays to coincide with the panel’s time and location. If the organizers seek this activity, they must coordinate directly with a publisher in the exhibits hall. Best Practices: Criteria for Book Sessions A. Sessions submitted by the Committee on Teaching and Public Education, which use recent publications to connect K-12 Teachers with scholars with the intention of creating lesson plans on the history of the American West are acceptable sessions and not considered “book panels.” B. Sessions that celebrate a group of books (3-4) or book that have significantly shaped the western history field (or a western history subfield) are acceptable if they concentrate on books published years prior to the proposed conference year. The organization of these sessions must adhere to the WHA’s Code of Conduct and Enforcement Policy and Diversity of Session Participants (see above) policies. C. If a session is accepted under the requirements of item “B,” there is an understanding with the session organizers that the WHA will not arrange for book signings, sales, and displays to coincide with the session's time and location. If the organizers seek this activity, they must coordinate directly with a publisher in the exhibits hall or purchase an exhibit booth at the regular price. |
WHA PROGRAM COMMITTEE
| WHA 2026 CALL FOR PAPERS
Communities and scholars continue to expand our understanding of who prospered and suffered in the North American West. They have unsettled the past by showing us that the past is unsettling. They demand that we attend to climate, migration, misery, resistance, sovereignty, and safety. With their insights in mind, the 2026 Program Committee calls for papers, panels, roundtables, workshops, and innovative session formats that encourage us to learn lessons from those demands. Meeting in Portland, Oregon, the WHA’s 2026 conference offers us a chance to listen. What do these Wests tell us? Can they teach us to consider difference, privilege, continuity, and rupture? What can we learn from places marked by millennia of traditions, encounters, collusion, and conflict? We welcome submissions from established and emerging scholars, as well as public historians, K-12 educators, and community members. We welcome submissions from scholars who may not think of themselves as western historians but whose visions of environment, Indigeneity, immigration, gender, economies, expansion, Pacific Worlds, politics, war, law, sexuality, and capitalism unsettle western history. We welcome submissions rooted in the unsettling scholarship by Indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees, and queer persons removed or exiled from their homelands. We welcome submissions that encourage us to learn from our unsettled past. For more information and submission guidelines, visit www.westernhistory.org/2026. Submit proposals via the Western History Association website by Dec. 5, 2025. |
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