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COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

ANNUAL EVENT SERIES: CLIMATE CHANGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

A graphic showing the global temperature rising between 1850 and 2021.

The Lepage Center will spend the 2022 – 2023 academic year exploring the multiple dimensions of climate change in historical perspective.

The series of panels and talks will examine the problem of climate change denial, climate justice activism, the national security implications of climate change, the rise of climate refugees, and the future of the city. The series will showcase the ways in which historians have engaged the issue of climate change in their scholarship and in their advocacy, both informing the public and inspiring it to act.

 

Spring 2023 Series Events

All events will be held virtually on Zoom. Descriptions link to webinar registration for upcoming events, and video recordings for past events.

February

Wednesday, Feb. 22, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: The fourth of six Climate Change in Historical Perspective panels will focus on how climate change impacts global security.

Featuring

  • John R. McNeill, PhD, Distinguished University Professor, School of Foreign Service and History Department, Georgetown University
  • COL Mark Read, PhD, Professor and Department Head, Geography and Environmental Engineering, United States Military Academy
  • Marcus King, PhD, Professor of the Practice in Environment and International Affairs, Science and Technology in International Affairs Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
  • Tom Ellison, M.A., Deputy Director of the Center for Climate and Security
  • Marisol Maddox, M.A., Senior Arctic Analyst, Polar Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  • Moderator: Frank Galgano, PhD, Associate Professor, Geography and the Environment, Villanova University

 

March

Monday, Mar. 20, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: the fifth of six Climate Change in Historical Perspective panels will focus on the impact of climate change on refugees and migration.

Featuring

 

April

Wednesday April 12, 6:00-7:15 p.m.: The final of six Climate Change in Historical Perspective panels will focus on the effects of climate change on cities.

Featuring

  • Karen C. Seto, PhD, Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science, Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology, Yale University
  • Andrew Needham, PhD, Associate Professor, History, NYU
  • Fiona Clare Williamson, PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental History, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, Basket Coordinator for Technology & Society, Lee Kong Chian Fellow, Southern Methodist University
  • Moderator: Caroline Murphy, PhD, Assistant Professor, History, Villanova University

 

The following panels and talks are other standalone events with the shared interest of a more historically-informed public, but fall outside of the topic of Climate Change in Historical Perspective.

Spring 2023 Special Events

All events will be held virtually on Zoom. Titles link to Zoom webinar registration pages for upcoming events and to recordings for past events.

February

Thursday, Feb. 16, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: "When Did Liberal Become an Insult?"

Featuring

  • Helena Rosenblatt, PhD, Distinguished Professor in History, French, Political Science, and Biography and Memoir, Graduate Center, City University of New York
  • David Greenberg, PhD, Professor, History, Journalism & Media Studies, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers
  • Nicole Hemmer, PhD, Associate Professor, History, Director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency, Vanderbilt
  • Moderator: Marc Gallicchio, PhD, Professor and Mary M. Birle Chair in American History, Villanova University

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: "One Year Later: The War in Ukraine" A conversation between Dr. Volodymyr Kravchenko and Dr. Mike Westrate, with comment from Dr. Mark Schrad.

Featuring

  • Volodymyr Kravchenko, PhD, Professor, Faculty of Arts - History, Classics, & Religion Dept, University of Alberta
  • Mark Schrad, PhD, Director of Russian Area Studies, Professor, Department of Political Science, Villanova University
  • Moderator: Mike Westrate, PhD, Assistant Vice Provost, Graduate Education & Research, Assistant Professor, Department of History and Honors Program, Faculty Fellow, Russian Area Studies, Villanova University

 

March

Tuesday, Mar. 28, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: "Haiti and the West: Engineering the Failure of Democracy" A conversation about the Haitian Revolution and the long duree of diplomatic relations between Haiti, France, the U.S., and the Global North.

Featuring

  • Marlene Daut, PhD, Professor of French and African Diaspora Studies, Yale University
  • Brandon Byrd, PhD, Associate Professor of History, Vanderbilt University
  • Nathalie Pierre, PhD, Assistant Professor of History, Howard University
  • Moderator: Maghan Keita, PhD, Professor of History and Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Founding Director, Africana Studies and Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Villanova University

Fall 2022 Series Events

All events will be held virtually on Zoom.

September

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: The first of six Climate Change in Historical Perspective panels will focus on how historians have examined climate change in history and how historians can communicate that history to the public.

Featuring

  • Deborah Coen, PhD, professor, chair of the History of Science and Medicine Program, Yale University
  • Dagomar DeGroot, PhD, associate professor, History, Georgetown University
  • Ruth Morgan, PhD, associate professor, director, Centre for Environmental History, Australian National University

 

October

Wednesday, Oct. 19, 6:00 – 7:15 p.m.: the second of six Climate Change in Historical Perspective panels will focus on corporate, scientific and political denial of climate change research.

Featuring

  • Erik Conway, PhD, historian, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, who will discuss his forthcoming coauthored book, The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market and his previous work, Merchants of Doubt
  • Eve Darian-Smith, PhD, chair, Global and International Studies, University of California, Irvine, who will speak about governments' resistance to climate change initiatives in Australia, Brazil and the United States, drawing on her recently published book Global Burning: Rising Antidemocracy and the Climate Crisis
  • Ronald Kramer, PhD, professor, Sociology, Western Michigan University, who will offer themes from his 2020 book Carbon Criminals, Climate Crimes.

 

November

Wednesday November 16, 6:00-7:15 p.m.: The third of six Climate Change in Historical Perspective panels will focus on the rise of climate justice movements.

Featuring

  • Karen Jarratt-Snider, PhD, chair and associate professor, Applied Indigenous Studies, Northern Arizona University
  • Prakash Kashwan, PhD, associate professor, Environmental Studies, Brandeis University
  • David Pellow, PhD, program chair and Dehlsen Professor, Environmental Studies Program, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Julie Sze, PhD, professor, American Studies, University of California, Davis
  • Moderator: Jerusha Conner, PhD, professor, Education and Counseling, Villanova University

  

The Lepage Center records most of their events, making them accessible to the wider community. You can watch these recorded events on YouTube.