History Department Events
Welcome Picnic
Every August, we get the academic year started with a welcome picnic at Dr Gahan's house. We gather, and grill, and eat, and then we sit around and talk. It's a great way for the freshman class to meet everyone else, and for all of us to get reacquainted and catch up.
Chili Night
In January each year, the history department gathers for its annual chili contest, where we sample chili made by the five professors and our administrative assistant, as well as sides and corn bread. The champion chili is decided by whose steaming pot gets emptied first. After a tense electoral process, the winning chef takes home the much-coveted golden ladle.
Senior Dinner
A couple of nights before Graduation, we meet for dinner at a local restaurant to say thanks and farewell to the graduating senior class. Always a bitter-sweet experience but also a great time. The time from when we first meet as Freshmen to eating together on Senior Night passes so quickly, but as always our hope is that this is not 'goodbye' but simply 'until we meet again'!
Senior Thesis Presentation Night
The Senior Thesis is the most significant piece of writing that our students do, as they end up with a 30-page paper with over 30 sources. It takes a whole semester and requires extensive research and multiple drafts.
At the end of the Fall Semester, all of the Seniors deliver a 30 minute presentation based on it to an audience made up of their peers, their professors, their friends, and their families. It is a fitting pinnacle to what is a very demanding and very rewarding piece of scholarly research.
Spring Lecture
In March we bring to campus a distinguished historian to deliver the Spring Lecture. The historian gets the chance to meet our students both inside and out of classes, and the well-attended lectures have always been one of the intellectual highlights of the Spring semester for the entire University.
