History

Dr. H. Nicholas Hamner Lecture

History isn’t just about yesterday—it’s a living conversation that shapes our world today. Made possible by the generosity of the late Professor Emeritus Dr. H. Nicholas Hamner, our annual lecture brings leading minds to campus to unpack compelling themes, challenge perspectives, and inspire curious minds across Western Michigan University and beyond.

 

man in gray winter hat and black coat outside by lake

We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Bart Elmore from Ohio State University as this year's speaker.

  • Date:  Oct 8th, 2026
  • Reception:  5:00pm-6:00pm, Location:  Brown Hall Rm. 3025
  • Lecture: 6:00pm, Location:  Brown Hall Rm. 2028
  • RSVP appreciated:  kathleen.drzewiecki@wmich.edu
 

"Are We Doomed or Can We Solve the Problem of Climate Change?"

This talk will take the audience back in time to fully understand what the past can teach us about solving one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change. For the past several years, environmental historian Bart Elmore has been on the ground at the annual UN Climate Summits and he has conducted research on climate change in archives and through field research around the world. Come for a night of engagement and explore what WE can do to solve a global environmental issue that affects all of us.

archive

Past Hamner Lectures

 

2025 - Dr. Thomas Burman (University of Notre Dame) "Choosing Eschatologies in the Medieval Mediterranean: Ramon Martí on Islam and Judaism"

2024 - Dr. Rose Hofte (University of Amsterdam)
"Confronting a Controversial Past: Dutch Colonial History in Asia & the Atlantic"
 
2023 - Dr. Benjamin Carp (Brooklyn College)
"American Creation, American Destruction: The 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party and 1776"
 

2020 - Dr. Edward Wang (Rowan University) "Was 1492 a turning Point in World History? An Analysis in Historiography" 

2019 - Dr. Juan Cole (University of Michigan) "The Saudi Crisis in the Contemporary Middle East" 

2018 - Dr. Douglas D. Scott (Colorado Mesa University)  "The Role of Archaeology in Human Rights and Forensic Science: Gathering Evidence of Modern War Crimes"  

2017 - Nicolette Hahn Niman "The Animals We Eat, from Prehistory to Modernity"  

2016 - Dr. John R. MacNeill (Georgetown University) "Revolutionary Mosquitoes"  

2015 - Dr. Julie Buckler (Harvard University) "Post-Soviet Memorials and Ruins: A Poetics"

2014 - Dr. Ian Morris (Stanford University) "War, Peace, and Empire: A Paradoxical History?"  

2014 - Dr. Peter Kolchin (University of Delaware) "U. S. Emancipation in Historical and Comparative Perspective" (March 31, 2014)

2012 - Samuel Edgerton (Williams College) "Sacred Violence: When even Artists Celebrated the Death Penalty" (Oct. 4, 2012)

2012 - Dr. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (Notre Dame University--William P. Reynolds Professor of History) "Change: Why It Happens, Why It Accelerates, and How Change Itself May Change" (March 12, 2012)

2011 - Dr. David Blight (Yale University—Class of 1954 Professor of American History) "'Thrilling but Sad': Bruce Catton's Civil War Centennial in Retrospect" (March 22, 2011)

2010 - Dr. Carol Gluck (Columbia University—George Sansom Professor of History) "Past Obsessions: World War II in Japanese History and Memory" (March 18, 2010)

2009 - Dr. Ronnie Po-chia Hsia (Pennsylvania State University—Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History) "Elective Affinities: The Jesuits and China" (March 16, 2009)