Department of History
The Department of History’s reach extends throughout the University far more than people may realize. Whether it involves research, lectures, or instruction, the faculty is deeply involved in much of the scholarship that takes place at LSU.
In addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, faculty members serve in a large number of campus and community outreach capacities. They conduct research and write on topics ranging from the American Civil War to Chinese Confucianism.
They also garner a large amount of honors for their work at LSU.
Most recently, Margherita Zanasi was appointed to a fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, for Fall 2007. She will use that time to work on her next book, whose working title is From Empire to Nation: Chinese Economic Thought in Transition. Zanasi was also awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, which will enable her to complete her year of research in Spring 2008, working on historical records in Shanghai.
Zanasi’s colleague Professor Mark L. Thompson was also recently selected to receive a prestigious fellowship for study at the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island.
As a whole, the department hosts and/or contributes to a continuing round of lectures, seminars, and colloquia, including the prestigious annual Fleming Lecture Series on Southern history, the Modern History Colloquium Series, the periodic Works in Progress seminars, and the Medieval and Renaissance Interdisciplinary Studies, or MARIS, program.
The MARIS program is still a relatively new program to the University and began with the assistance of a National Endowment for the Humanities Focus Grant and a Louisiana Board of Regents Enhancement Grant. The project encompasses a lecture and workshop series, the establishment of the Consortium of Medieval and Renaissance Scholars from Louisiana colleges and universities, and a monthly Faculty Forum in which faculty and graduate students may present their current research.
