Professor Fiona Vernal’s Oral History Exhibition “Bloomfield Mosaic: Stories from our Jewish, African American, and West Indian Communities” Opens at Alvin and Beatrice Wood Human Services Center

Fiona Vernal, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies and Associate Director of the Africana Studies Institute, and graduate student Tim Brown, with the help of community volunteers recorded oral histories and digitized photos that were used to curate the exhibit. The work for the exhibit began in 2023, and builds upon Professor Vernal’s local history work in CT towns including Hartford, Windsor, and Enfield. UConn Today has written an in-depth article on the project and what it means to the communities whose stories are being told.

Full article here

Nick Hurley (BA ’13, MA ’15) reflects on teaching at West Point in Contingent Magazine

US Army National Guard officer and UConn graduate Nick Hurley (BA ’13, MA ’15) has published a wonderful essay “What’s the Point?” on his year teaching History to cadets at West Point. The article was published in Contingent Magazine which was co-founded by several UConn grads. Read the piece here: https://contingentmagazine.org/2025/11/11/whats-the-point/

Jonathan Michaels on Socialism, Labor, and Reform in NYC

Jonathan Michaels, one-time chef and longtime lecturer at UConn Hartford, has written one cookbook and two excellent historical studies of McCarthyism. His new book project is on leftist politics and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, under contract with Routledge. This week, with the election of a democratic socialist as mayor of New York, he returns to the vibrant world of immigrants, leftists, and union struggles in early 20th century New York for a piece in Jacobin about Morris Hillquit, “The Socialist Who Helped Bring Marx to America.”

Manisha Sinha’s Counterrevolution of Slavery at Twenty Five

The Southern Historical Association will be hosting a roundtable discussion of Prof. Manisha Sinha’s, The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina, in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its publication. The discussion will take place on November 7, from 2:30 – 4:30 P.M. In addition to Manisha Sinha, the panel will feature Lorri Glover (Saint Louis University), W. Fitzhugh Brundage (University of North Carolina), Justene Hill Edwards (University of Virginia), Matthew Karp (Princeton University), and Amrita Chakrabarti Myers (Indiana University).

Helen Rozwadowski to speak on “The Blue Planet” panel at Rutgers 2025 Climate Symposium

The Rutgers Climate Symposium fosters collaboration among researchers and students across all disciplines from institutions in the Mid-Atlantic region who are interested in climate change, renewable energy, energy efficiency, or other approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

More info and attendance registration here.

Emeritus Draper Professor of American History Robert Gross and Earth Sciences professor Robert Thorson collaborate on article exploring the geographical significance of Concord

WHY CONCORD? The geological origins of the American Revolution” by Robert A. Gross and Robert M. Thorson recently appeared in The Atlantic. They were also interviewed about their work and featured in a UConn today article entitled “Place Matters. History Is the Result” by Elaina Hancock which can be found here.