Thomas Fiddick served as professor of history at the University of Evansville from the fall quarter of 1963 to the spring semester of 2002. In the 39 years he spent at the University, he was a dedicated teacher, a productive scholar, and a tireless fighter in the cause of justice. His untimely death on the day of his retirement in 2002 stunned the entire University of Evansville community, especially his many former students.

"Fiddick was a gifted teacher who breathed life into the old dead guys of history. He was a passionate liberal long after it became unfashionable and a gifted musician who played the trombone in a traveling band. During his life, he accumulated a long list of former students who credit him for liberating their minds and altering their lives." Maureen Hayden

"He was terrifically patient with other people's ideas and their attempts to articulate them. He was a great, thoughtful man." Daniel Gahan, professor of history

Former students, with the support of Fiddick's friends and the University, established the annual Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture in 2002. Each year, a committee consisting of the full-time members of the Department of History, a member of the Fiddick family, and alumni of the Department of History select the lecturer. Lectures are related to such themes as social justice, free inquiry, history of the arts (music especially), or Russian history. Time is allotted for the lecturer to mingle with alumni, members of the larger community, and current students.

Past Events

Fiddick Lecture Series - Women's Suffrage

Friday, November 5, 2021, 7:00 p.m.
Ridgway University Center, Eykamp Hall, University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Lecture on Women's Suffrage presented by speaker Sally Roesch Wagner.

This lecture will be held in person, and will follow event guidelines regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those who are unable to attend in-person, you can stream the lecture at evansville.edu/live.

Fiddick Lecture Series - 18th Fiddick Memorial Lecture

Friday, November 8, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Schroeder Family School of Business Administration Building, Smythe Lecture Hall, Room 170, University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Lecture to mark the 100th anniversary of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Speaker is Professor Susan Kent of the Univ of Colorado.

Fiddick Lecture Series - The Second Great War, 1917-1923

Friday, October 26, 2018, 7:00 p.m.
Ridgway University Center, Eykamp Hall, University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Yale University professor Jay Winter to discuss “The Second Great War, 1917-1923.” This event is free and open to public.

Fiddick Lecture Series - Hoosiers and the Long Struggle for Racial Equality

Friday, November 3, 2017, 7:00 p.m.
Schroeder Family School of Business Administration Building, Smythe Lecture Hall, Room 170, University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Speaker: James H. Madison

For over two centuries Hoosiers have struggled with challenges of race. There were times when African American Hoosiers could not vote, when the danger of lynching was real, when the Ku Klux Klan seemed right and necessary, when segregationists created schools, restaurants, and basketball tournaments for whites only.  Beginning in the1950s, Indiana reformers began a push toward equality that we know as the great civil rights movement.

Professor Madison’s lecture will focus on several flash points of challenge and change to spark thinking about race and about where we have been, where we are, and where we want to go as citizens in a changing world.

James H. Madison is the Thomas and Kathryn Miller Professor Emeritus of History, at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is without doubt one of the most distinguished scholars to work in the field of Indiana History. An award winning teacher over four decades at IU, Jim is the author of several books, including Eli Lilly: A Life; A Lynching in the Heartland: Race and Memory in America; and Slinging Doughnuts for the Boys: An American Woman in World War II. He has taught as a Fulbright Professor in Japan and England and has served on the boards of Indiana Humanities and the Indiana Historical Society, as well as being a member of the Indiana Bicentennial Commission.

Professor Madison’s most recent book is the highly acclaimed bicentennial history of our state - Hoosiers: A New History of Indiana; it is the basis for an Emmy-awarded PBS documentary on Indiana’s history.

Fiddick Lecture Series - Ireland’s Revolution 1916: Patrick Pearse and Education

Friday, October 28, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Daire Keogh is Cregan Professor of History at Dublin City University. He has served as president of St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra since 2012. He has published extensively, on the history of popular politics, religion, and education in Ireland. A former Government of Ireland Senior Research Fellow, he is currently principal investigator of an Irish Research Council funded project to publish the extensive correspondence of Cardinal Paul Cullen (1803-78).

Professor Keogh is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Trinity College, the Gregorian University in Rome and Glasgow University. He has a strong profile as a historian and an educationalist. He has lectured widely at universities in Europe, America, and Australia.

Fiddick Lecture Series - American Professional Sports and Political Activism

Friday, October 30, 2015, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Dr. Steven P. Gietschier, Associate Professor of History at Lindenwood University

Fiddick Lecture Series - The GI Generation: Sending American Soldiers into Battle in World War II

Friday, October 10, 2014, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Theodore Wilson, University of Kansas professor of history

Fiddick Lecture Series - Changing Views of Islam in Spain Between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period

Friday, November 1, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Olivia Remie Constable, professor of medieval history and the Robert M. Conway director of the Medieval Institute at the University of Notre Dame

Fiddick Lecture Series - Craig Symonds, Professor Emeritus of History, US Naval Academy

Friday, October 26, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - T. Lloyd Benson, Professor of History, Furman University

Friday, November 11, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Marilyn Young, Professor of History, New York University

Friday, October 29, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Professor of History, University of California at Santa Barbara

Friday, October 23, 2009, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Kevin Whelan, Smurfit Director, Keough Notre Dame Center, University of Notre Dame

Saturday, October 18, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Donald Clark, Professor of History, Trinity University

Friday, November 2, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Louis Clark ‘69, President, Government Accountability Project

Friday, November 3, 2006, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Herbert Ziegler ‘71, Professor of History, University of Hawaii

Friday, November 4, 2005, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Walter LaFeber, Professor of History, Cornell University

Friday, October 29, 2004, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Roger Beck ‘69, Professor of History, Eastern Illinois University

Friday, February 27, 2004, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN

Fiddick Lecture Series - Richard Hume Werking ‘66, Professor of History and Library Director, US Naval Academy

Friday, February 21, 2003, 7:00 p.m.
University of Evansville Campus, 1800 Lincoln Ave, Evansville, IN