Skip to main content

Department of History

Department of History
  2. Calendar

Calendar

Updated: Aug 18, 2017

For your convenience, all currently scheduled events, sponsored, co-sponsored, or of import to the department of history, are listed below. This is a working list and is updated frequently. If you know of an event co-sponsored by the department of history that is not listed below please contact Heidi Welch.

All department meetings and VHS seminars are held at 3:10 pm on Mondays.

FALL 2017

  • Aug. 23, first day of classes
  • Aug. 24, 4:10 pm, SLC, Fall Faculty Assembly with Chancellor Zeppos
  • SATURDAY, Aug. 26, 3:00 pm, There will be a memorial service for Sam T. McSeveney at the University Club, Vanderbilt University.
  • Aug. 28, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • Sept. 4, Labor Day, classes ARE in session, VU holiday
  • Sept. 5, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Buttrick 123, Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Jeff Cowie, (Vanderbilt), "The Dark Note of Freedom: White Democracy and Federal Power in an American County."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • Sept. 7-9, Sarratt 216/220. Conference: "Speech and Space: Discursive Environments Across Non-Arab Islam” to be held at Vanderbilt University. Concluding conference of the Sawyer Seminar “When the Fringe Dwarfs the Center: Vernacular Islam Beyond the Arab World,” funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and hosted by the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. The conference is open to the Vanderbilt community and to the public. Department of History faculty involved with this conference: Julia Cohen, Moses Ochonu, Samira Sheikh, David Wasserstein and Ashish Koul (graduate student).
  • Sept. 11, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Tenured Faculty only meeting
  • Sept. 14, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • Sept. 15, 6:30 pm, Joel and Beth Harrington's house, BEGINNING OF THE YEAR DEPARTMENT PARTY.  For department faculty and graduate students.
  • Sept. 18, 12-2 pm, Buttrick 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Barbara Welke (University of Minnesota), "Finding Their Way to the Law.” Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • Sept. 19, 4:10 pm, room tba, Norman Yoffee, meritus at the University of Michigan (https://lsa.umich.edu/neareast/people/emeritus/nyoffee.html). A brief bio: Norman Yoffee's career has oscillated between the fields of Assyriology (Mesopotamian studies), especially law and economics, mainly in the Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000-1600 BC), and Anthropology. He will speak on economic networks in the Middle East to eastern Mediterranean during late prehistory and into the historic era. Sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology, Program in Classical and Mediterranean Studies, History.
  • Sept. 19, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • Sept. 20, 5:30 - 6:15 pm, Benson Hall 2nd floor foyer.  Reception for applicants to the History Honors Program, all faculty invited and encouraged to attend.  Mellow mushroom pizza provided.
  • Sept. 20 & 21, Rosh Hashanah begins sundown 9/20
  • Sept. 21, 11:30-1:30, lunch provided, room TBA.  Circum Atlantic Seminar presents Yesenia Barragan (Dartmouth) and Marcela Echeverri (Yale), "New Directions in the Study of Slave Emancipation in Colombia."  There will be a pre-circulated paper.
  • Sept. 25, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Josh Reid, University of Washington, author of The Sea is My Country: The Maritime World of the Makahs (Yale, 2015) "Beyond the Middle Ground: American Indian History Today." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie.  Please contact Alex Jacobs for information.
  • Sept. 27, time tba, room tba, Max Kade Speaker Series presents, Pamela Ballinger, Fred Cuny Chair in the History of Human Rights, University of Michigan, "Reclaiming Italy: National Refugees and the Afterlives of Fascism." Co-sponsored by Department of History.
  • Sept. 30, Yom Kippur
  • Oct. 2, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • Oct. 3, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Buttrick 123, Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Aileen Teague, (Vanderbilt), "U.S. Drug Enforcement, Mexican Counterinsurgency, and the Languages of War, 1969-1985."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • Oct. 5, 12-2:30 pm, Benson 200, Nathan Englander. Sponsored by Department of History and co-sponsored by Creative Writing and Jewish Studies Program.
  • Oct. 5, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • Oct. 6, 2:15 - 4:00 pm, room TBA,  Department Reception for History Alumni.  Alumni Weekend.
  • Oct. 6, 2 pm, RPW center, Nicholas Rogers, Distinguished Research Professor at York University Toronto, to give a talk on “E.P. Thompson’s eighteenth century, history from below: new directions, important legacies.”  Sponsored by History and the Humanities Center 18th and 19th Century Seminar.
  • Oct. 9,12-2 pm, Buttrick 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Juandrea Bates (Winona State University),  " 'Privileges Reserved for a True Family:' Legal Constructions of Family and the Restriction of Citizenship Rights in the Early Argentine Republic." Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Reynolds Richter.
  • Oct. 12-13, Fall break for undergraduate students
  • Oct. 16, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Peter Lake, Vanderbilt University, "Crying Like a Protestant: Dublin Jail, 1640." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie. Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • Oct. 17, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • Oct. 23, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • Oct. 24, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Buttrick 123, Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Laura Stark, (Vanderbilt), "Escaping time: Prisoners' escapes from NIH medical experiments and the politics of history without names."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • Oct. 26, 5:30 - 6:00 pm, Benson Hall 2nd floor foyer. Phi Alpha Theta induction ceremony.
  • Nov. 6, 12-2 pm, Buttrick 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Indira Gesink (Baldwin Wallace University),  "The Complex Sex: Intersexuality in Pre-modern Islamic Legal Texts." Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • Nov. 6, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Paolo Squatriti, University of Michigan, "The Restless Resource: Medieval Europeans and Water." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie. Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • Nov. 9-12, Southern Historical Association annual meeting, Dallas, TX
  • Nov. 9, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • Nov. 13, 12-2 pm, Buttrick 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Donald Davis (University of Texas at Austin),  "The Evolution of the Legal Subject in Classical Hindu Law." Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • Nov. 14, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Buttrick 123, Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Cathleen Cahil, (University of New Mexico), "One-eight Kaw and 100% Republican": Charles Curtis, Indian Citizenship, and Woman Suffrage in the 1920s."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • Nov. 14, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • Nov 15, time tba, room tba, Max Kade Speaker Series presents, Tara Zahra, Professor of East European History, University of Chicago, title TBA. Co-sponsored by Department of History.
  • Nov. 18-26, Thanksgiving Holidays in most schools
  • Nov. 23 & 24, VU Holiday, office closed
  • Nov. 27, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • Dec. 4, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Ben Cohen, University of Utah, "The Hydrosocial and the Long-term: A Case for India's Deccan," and Ruth Mostern, University of Pittsburgh, "River History at the Holecene Scale: A View from East Asia." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie.  Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • Dec. 5, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • Dec. 7, Last day of classes
  • Dec. 7, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • Dec. 8, Reading Day
  • Dec. 9-16, Undergraduate exams
  • Dec. 13-20 Hanukkah
  • Dec. 22 - Jan. 1, VU Holiday, office closed

SPRING 2018

  • Jan. 4-7, American Historical Association annual meeting, Washington, DC
  • Jan. 8, First day of classes
  • Jan. 8, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • Jan. 15, Martin Luther King, Jr. day - classes do not meet
  • Jan. 16, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Div 129 (tentative), Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Fitz Brundage, (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), "Americans and Torture in a Totalitarian Age, 1945-1980."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • Jan. 18, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • Jan. 22, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Greg Cushman, University of Kansas, "The Pacific Ocean and the Onset of the Anthropocene Epoch." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie. Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • Jan. 29,  12-2 pm, BT 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Paul Halliday (University of Virginia),  “Title here.” Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • Jan. 30, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • Feb. 5, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • Feb. 6, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, room tba, Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Juliet Larkin-Gilmore, (Vanderbilt), "Homesick: How Public Health Shaped the Relationship Between Federal Indian Schools and Mohave Families, 1900–1920."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • Feb. 8, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • Feb. 12, 2-2 pm, BT 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Susanna Burghartz (Universität Basel),  “Title here.” Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • Feb. 14, Ash Wednesday
  • Feb. 14, noon, room tba, Natalie Zemon Davis, talk title tba.  Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and co-sponsored by the Department of History, Religious Studies.
  • Feb. 19, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Michael Low, Iowa State, "Desalinated Dreams, Fossil-Fueled and Filtered from the Pacific to the Persian Gulf." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie. Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • Feb. 20, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • Feb. 22, 5:30-6:00 pm, Benson Hall 2nd floor foyer, Phi Alpha Theta induction ceremony
  • Feb. 27, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Div 129 (tentative), Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Kyle Romero, (Vanderbilt), “The Economics of Morality: Capitalism, American Food Aid, and the Professionalization of Humanitarianism, 1914-1945."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • March 3-11, Spring Holidays in most school
  • March 12, 12-2 pm, BT 123, Adam Goodman, Assistant Professor of History & Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago, "Fighting the Deportation Machine: Immigrant Activism in the Streets and in the Courts, 1970-1985." Co-sponsored by Legal History Colloquium and the Program in American Studies.
  • March 12, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • March 15, 4:10 pm, room TBA, Vanderbilt University, The Annual Byrn Lecture, Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University, "Title."  Talk open to the public. Reception to follow.
  • March 16, 12:00 – 1:30 pm, BT 123, Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University, The Byrn Lecturer lunch talk with department of History graduate students and faculty.
  • March 19, 12-2 pm, BT 123, Legal History Colloquium.  Pascal Pichonnaz (Université de Fribourg ),  "Limitation of recoverable losses: From Damages circa rem to foreseeability of damages: some aspects of an evolution.” Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • March 22 & 23, A Conference sponsored by the Chancellor and coordinated by Professor Dennis Dickerson, "Wrestling with the Past: Vanderbilt, Race, and the Confederate Legacy."
  • March 26 (tentative date), 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Sarah Hamilton, University of Texas, Auburn, "Spanish Wetlands in the Anthropocene." VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie. Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • March 27, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • March 29, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • March 30 & April 1, Good Friday and Easter
  • March 31- April 7, Passover
  • April 2, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • April 3, 11:30 – 1:00 pm, Div 129 (tentative), Americanist Lunch Seminar presents Justin Hubbard, (Vanderbilt), "Scent of a Dopeman: Narcotics-Detection Dogs, Veterinary Research Science, and the Militarization of Public Health after Vietnam."  This seminar coordinated by Brandon Byrd and Juliet Larkin-Gilmore.
  • April 4, 4:10 pm, location TBA, novelist and essayist Amitav Ghosh will deliver a lecture to mark the Asian Studies Program's 50th anniversary. Co-sponsored by the Department of History.
  • April 5, 4:10 pm, Langford Auditorium, Spring Faculty Assembly with Chancellor Zeppos
  • April 6, time tba, room tba, Max Kade Speaker Series presents, Deborah Cohen, Professor of History, Yale University, "Climate and Empire: Habsburg History for the Anthropocene." Co-sponsored by Department of History.
  • April 9, 12-2 pm, BT 123, Legal History Colloquium. Sam Erman (University of Southern California Gould School of Law),  "The Reconstruction Constitution in the Age of Empire.” Director: Thomas McGinn. Sponsored by the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. Discussion will be based on pre-circulated papers. For more information, or to receive electronic copies of the papers, please contact Thomas McGinn.
  • April 12 - 14, Organization of American Historians annual meeting, Sacramento, CA
  • April 16, 3:10 pm, Sarratt 216/220, Vanderbilt History Seminar. Andrew Needham, New York University, "Engineering Sustainability: The Chicago River and Metropolitan Ecological History."  VHS Co-Directors: Ruth Rogaski and Jeff Cowie. Please contact Alex Jacobs for more information.
  • April 19, 4:10-5:45 pm, Div 129, German History Seminar. Speaker name, University, "Title.” Seminar Conveners: Helmut W. Smith.
  • April 23, Last day of classes
  • April 23, 3:10 pm, BT 123, Full department meeting
  • April 24, Reading Day
  • April 24, 4:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • April 25-May 3, Undergraduate exams
  • May 7, Maymester term begins
  • May 8, 3:10 pm, room TBA, CAS Faculty Meeting
  • May 10, 3-4:30 pm History Department reception for graduating History and Economics and History majors and their families.  All faculty invited and expected to attend.
  • May 11, Commencement
  • May 28, VU Holiday, office closed
  • June 5, First-half and full-term summer classes begin
  • July 4, VU Holiday, office closed
  • Aug. 10, Summer semester ends

2018 - 2019 Academic Year begins below.

  • Sept. 3, Labor Day, classes ARE in session, VU Holiday
  • Nov. 8-11, Southern Historical Association annual meeting
  • Nov. 22 & 23, VU Holiday, office closed
  • Dec. 24 - 31, VU Holiday, office closed