Dec. 5: The "Presenting American Studies" Paper Series. Mark Alan Mattes, PhD Candidate in American Studies, "Staging Literacy in the Antebellum Theatre: Epistolary Performance in Mowatt's Fashion," and Sharon Romeo, PhD Candidate in American Studies, "African American Women, Black Testimony and Military Justice in Civil War St. Louis." Session Chair Deborah Whaley, Assistant Professor of American Studies and African American Studies.

Dec. 4: Ida Cordelia Beam Visiting Professor, James L. Watson of Harvard, presented "Cold War Borders in a Post-Socialist World: Hong Kong China."

Dec. 4: Classics Coffee Hour -- a special occasion to recognize Christian Preus, winner of the Peter Green Essay Prize and have an informal reading of Latin poetry by undergraduates, graduates and faculty.

Dec. 3: Louise Noun Centenary Celebration at the Iowa Women's Archives -- Louis Noun was a social activist, art collector, author, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Iowa Women's Archives. Professor Linda Kerber and Karen Mason, Curator of the Iowa Women's Archives provided remarks.

Dec. 1: The African American Studies Program presented The New Orleans Symposium -- speakers included: Tisch Jones, Associate Professor in Theatre Arts and African American Studies ("Theatrical Activities of Free People of Color in Ante-Bellum New Orleans"), Frank Durham, Associate Professor in Journalism & Mass Communications (" 'Inescapable Reality': Professionalism, Objectivity, and the Press in the New Orleans School Desegregation Crisis of 1960-61"), and Richard Turner, Associate Professor in Religious Studies and African American Studies ("A Jazz Funeral for 'A City That Care Forgot': The New Orleans Diaspora After Hurricane Katrina").

Nov. 19: Glenn Penny presented the second faculty colloquium -- "Colonial Realities: Germans, Massacres, and New Ulm during the Minnesota Indian War of 1862."

Nov. 18: History of Medicine Society presented Craig Gibson (UI Associate Professor of Classics)--"Medical (Mal)practice in Greek and Roman Rhetoric."

Nov. 11-12: Jana Lipman of Tulane University participated in the History Department's Transnational /International speaker series (The United States in the World: New Perspectives). Her work is on the Cuban-American labor/social history of the U. S. naval base at Guantánamo, 1930s-1950s. She gave a lecture and lead a brownbag seminar.

Nov. 10-11: Ida Beam Visiting Professor Henry Shue presented two public lectures on his recent work--(first lecture) "Is the American Way of War Just?: Terrorism and the Initiation of War" and (second lecture) "Is the American Way of War Just?: Bombing and the Limitation of War." Shue's writing in the last decade has mainly concerned issues of justice arising in international negotiations over climate change, the international legal responses to climate change, and most recently, on war.

Nov. 10: The American Archeological Association (AIA) Iowa Chapter presented Dr.John Doershuk (State Archaeologist, Iowa), "Oneota Culture and First Contact: Observations from Northwest Iowa."

Nov. 10: Classics Colloquium--Christopher Nappa, Associate Professor from the University of Minnesota, presented "The World and the Self: Bodies and Their Surrogates in Juvenal's Satires."

Nov. 9: Lost Nation: The Ioway -- Movie showing and DVD release event featuring producers Kelly & Tammy Rundle. (For info. 319-335-0606).

Nov. 6: "Surviving the Job Market" -- CV/Cover Letter Workshop -- with Prof. Jennifer Sessions & Prof. Stephen Vlastos running the show.

Nov. 5-6: Professor Deirdre McCloskey of the University of Illinois at Chicago participated in a two-day POROI event. On Nov. 5th, she spoke on her paper "Bourgeois Deeds: How Ideas Made the Modern World." On Nov. 6th, she spoke on "Lingonomics: Thoughts and Theorems about the Role of Language in an Economy." Papers were available at http://poroi.grad.uiowa.edu.

Nov. 3: Professor Aliko Songolo of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Department of French & Italian and Department of African Languages & Literature) presented " 'National Cinema' in Quebec and Francophone Africa."

Nov. 3: 18th- and 19th-Century Interdisciplinary Colloquium Lecture Series: Historicizing "Sustainability": Ecological Insights from the Past. Professor Robert Markley, Romano Professorial Scholar Department of English, University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana, presented "Defoe, Narrative, and the Instability of 'Nature'" Respondents: Paul Greenough (History); Roland Racevskis (French & Italian).

Oct. 30: On-campus memorial event for our colleague, Charlie Hale. This was a chance for Charlie's local friends and colleagues to share memories.

Oct. 30: Discussion about The Iowa Judiciary & Marriage for Same-Sex Couples: Iowa's National Relevance -- panelists included: Prof. Ann Estin, Prof. Linda Kerber, Prof. Ellen Lewin, and Hilary Meyer.

Oct. 29-30: Anne E. Foster, Indiana State University, visited the Department in our Transnational/ International speaker series (The United States in the World: New Perspectives). Her work was on the transnational history of opium control in colonial Southeast Asia in the early 20th century. She gave a lecture on Wednesday, October 29, and lead a brownbag seminar on Thursday, October 30.

Oct. 29: UICHR One Community, One Book program hosted a reading & learning experience about human rights -- the book is "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier," the memoir of a former child soldier, Ishmael Beah. Mr. Beah is a world renowned activist on children's rights. Information about discussion forums, films & other opportunities for UI students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the broader community member engagement, can be found at www.uichr.org.

Oct. 28: The History of Medicine Society presented Professor Colin Gordon's "Raising the Dead? History, Health Reform, and the 2008 Election."

Oct. 24: American Studies Department Floating Friday -- Professor Susan Birrell presented "Reading Mount Everest."

Oct. 23: English Department Freedman Series presentedPeter Brooks, Mellon Visiting Professor from Princeton University-- "Derealization of the Self (Rousseau, Freud, Proust)."

Oct. 23: Classics Colloquium--Regina Hoschele, Assistant Professor from the University of Toronto, presented "Catullus' Callimachean Hair-itage or the Erotics of Translation."

Oct. 22: Elke Stockreiter presented the first faculty colloquium--"Divorce Zanzibari Style, 1900-1963."

Oct. 17: The European Studies Group first Friday Talk -- Cari Campbell, History PhD Candidate, presented "Youth and Women in the Croix de Feu/Parti Social Francais, 1934-1939".

Oct. 17: Lunch with Candace Falk, director of the Emma Goldman Papers Project and editor of EMMA GOLDMAN: A DOCUMENTARY EDITION OF THE AMERICAN YEARS (University of California Press). Candace Falk has been editor of the Emma Goldman Papers since its inception at the University of California, Berkeley in 1980, and is the author of Love, Anarchy and Emma Goldman, which was a New York Times  Notable Biography in 1984.  She shared her reflections on the craft of documentary editing and why it ought to be better appreciated by practicing historians.

Oct. 14: 18th- and 19th-Century Interdisciplinary Colloquium Lecture Series: Historicizing "Sustainability": Ecological Insights from the Past. J. Eric Gidal, Department of English, "O Happy Earth! Reality of Heaven!: Melancholy and Utopia in Romantic Climatology." Respondents: Paul Greenough (History); Roland Racevskis (French & Italian).

Oct. 11: Jacki Rand presented "The Kiowa Ledger Artist: Insight into a Special Culture" as part of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences' Saturday Scholars Program.

Oct. 10: The "Presenting American Studies" Paper Series. Brian Hallstoos, PhD Candidate in American Studies,"American Crucifixion: Lynching Drama as Interracial Catharsis," and Patrick Oray, PhD Candidate in American Studies, "Blackness and the 'Post-Racial' Politics of Obama's Speech on Race: A Black (Every)man's Response to Race in America." Session Chair, Kim Marra, Professor of American Studies and Theatre Arts.

Oct. 7: UI Center for Human Rights (UICHR)--the first of three 2008-09 Human Rights Reading Group sessions.  Members of the UICHR Executive Board lead faculty & graduate students in discussions of readings addressing specific topics in human rights across disciplinary & collegiate boundaries.  Mark Sidel (Professor of Law, and Lauridsen Family Fellow, UI College of Law) facilitated discussion of "Thinking about Human Trafficking," readings from  the "Attorney General's Annual Report to Congress & Assessment of the U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons Fiscal Year 2007."

Oct. 6: "Surviving the Job Market" -- A panel discussion highlighting various perspectives on the job market. The panel included: Leslie Schwalm (History), Meriam Belli (History), & Catherine Stewart (Cornell College), each speaking about their experiences through the job search process.

Oct. 6: Dr. Filipe Castro, Texas A&M University, spoke on "Computers and Shipwrecks: The Pepper Wreck Reconstruction as a Virtual Hypothesis" as part of the Archeological Institute of America Iowa Society Lecture Program.

Sept. 25: 18th- and 19th-Century Interdisciplinary Colloquium Lecture Series: Historicizing "Sustainability": Ecological Insights from the Past. Julie Hochstrasser, School of Art & Art History, "The Butterfly Effect: Embodied Cognition and Perceptual Knowledge in Maria Sibylla Merian's  Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium"

Sept. 18, 4:00-5:00PM: Department of Classics Coffee Hour

Sept. 12: Erving Goffman and the Question of Communication. Canadian-born sociologist Erving Goffman (1922-1982) left behind a rich intellectual legacy and is now regarded as one of the 20th-century’s most creative thinkers about social life. This one-day international symposium reconsidered Goffman’s thought for the question of communication.

Sept. 11: Department of History Triennial Book Party -- An event to celebrate the recent publications and accomplishments of faculty, alumni, and colleagues of our department. John Osborn (BA, History, 1979), Collegiate Alumni Fellow, was the honored guest and spoke on "Life After Schaeffer Hall".

Sept. 10: Memories of a Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivor. On August 6, 1945, Ms. Ms. Yoshiko Kajimoto, was working as a mobilized student in an airplane parts factory 2.3 km from the epicenter of where the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. She toured the Midwest to share her A-bomb survivor experience.