History

Department of History homepage collage showing art and photos from across the centuries, going from Martin Luther King, Jr. all the way back to Pre-Modern history.

Faculty Outreach

The History Department poses for a group photo on stairs on UT's campus.
The Torchbearer with orange and white flowers in the foreground

Preparing for Success

Faculty are happy to give talks to community groups in the Knoxville area. Check out our list of volunteers and their intriguing topics!

2026–2027

Faculty available for talks to local and regional groups.

Margaret Anderson

Modern French History

  • The French Revolution
  • Britain and the Second World War
  • Louis XIV and the court of Versailles
  • Humanitarian Relief in the Aftermath of World War

Brooke Bauer

Native American History

  • Catawba Women: The American Revolution and the New Republic
  • Catawba Women in Revolutionary Conflict: Violence, Disruption, and Resilience
  • Surrounded and Beset by Enemies: Eighteenth-Century Catawba Indian Women’s Responses to Warfare
  • “Pottery We Will Make”: Eighteenth-Century Catawba Kinship and Pottery
  • Catawba Children at Carlisle: An Overlooked Chapter in the History of Native American Boarding Schools
  • Cherokee Women, Warfare, and Resilience, 1776-1794
  • Centering Trauma and Resilience: Teaching US History Through Native American Women’s Voices 

Megan Birk

American History

  • US Food History
  • History of home economics 
  • History of orphanages and foster care
  • History of rural life 

Rob Bland

African American History

  • The history and legacy of the Reconstruction era
  • The history and legacy of Juneteenth
  • The long history of voting rights in the United States

Nicole Eggers

African History

  • Refugee Stories: Understanding Histories of Displacement and Resettlement in Africa and Beyond 

Matthew Gillis

Medieval History

  • Charlemagne’s Empire
  • The First Crusade

Duncan Hardy

Medieval History

  • The history of Christianity and the Church(es)
  • The Protestant Reformation
  • The history of European monarchies down to the present

Susan Lawrence

History of Medicine

  • Privacy and the Past: How HIPAA has affected historical research
  • American Cadavers: The rise of body donation between 1870 and 1970

Vejas Liulevicius

European History

  • Religious Persecution and Resistance in the Soviet Union
  • The Mysteries of Franz Jozef Land: Austrian Polar Exploration
  • Leif Erikson the Lucky: Viking Explorations
  • Three Spies in East Tennessee: Civil War, World War I, and Cold War

Chris Magra

American History

  • Pirates, Privateers, and Seven Schooners: How America Fought the World’s Greatest Navy
  • In Their Own Words: Tennessee Veterans from World War II to the War on Terror
  • The Long Island Treaty of 1777: Opening East Tennessee

Denise Phillips

European History

  • The Enlightenment’s Most Famous Peasant: How a Swiss Farmer Became a Global Celebrity
  • A Deep History of Disney World: The Fascinating Roots of our Favorite Theme Park Attractions

Tore Olssen

US History

  • Video Games and American History
  • Guns in Modern America
  • Understanding Silicon Valley
  • Making Sense of Contemporary U.S. Politics

Brandon Winford

African American History

  • Black Business and the Civil Rights Movement
  • Black Wall Streets
  • Black Business and the Jim Crow South
  • A History of Black Banking in the American South

Michael Woods

US History

  • Presidential Visits to Knoxville
  • Slavery, Civil Rights, and the Gag Rule Debates in Congress

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

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