George Mason University Provost Presents Edmondson Lectures
Dr. Peter N. Stearns, provost of George Mason University, will give the 27th annual Charles Edmondson Historical Lectures at 3:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, and Tuesday, March 8, in room 100 at Morrison Constitution Hall on the Baylor University campus. The theme of the 2005 series is "Childhood in World History Perspective."
With more than 40 years of professional experience in higher education, Stearns focuses his research on U.S. and European social and cultural history, comparative, and world history. He will speak on "Issues of Childhood in Agricultural Societies" March 7 and "Childhood Amid Modernization and Globalization" March 8.
Editor of the Journal of Social History, Stearns is also the author of more than 30 books, including the recently published, Global Outrage: The Origins of World Opinion from the 1780s to the 21st Century and Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Child-rearing in America.
In an article published by the American Historical Association, Stearns writes, "Why study history? The answer is because we virtually must, to gain access to the laboratory of human experience. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness."
The Edmondson Historical Lectures, sponsored by the history department, are made possible by an endowment established by Dr. E. Bud Edmondson of Longview to honor his father, Charles S.B. Edmondson. The lecture series is free and open to the public.
For more information, contact the department of history at (254) 710-2667.