ISSUES IN HISTORY TODAY
TV SERIES
In 2014, the Department of History teamed up with the Media Resources Center to launch a television series called Issues in History Today. Each semester, WSU-TV produces and airs two episodes that feature the research and scholarship of our department. In the pilot episode, Dr. Robert Owens interviewed guest speaker Wendy Hamand Venet about her research on Civil War-era Atlanta. Subsequent episodes have included George Dehner talking about epidemics in history and Hulen Hundley, John Dreifort, and Jeff Hayton speaking about the 70th anniversary of V-E day.
As the title of the series illustrates, these shows highlight how understanding the past helps us better appreciate issues that face us today. In some cases, they show how has events parallel issues and situations that are still with us. In other cases, shows mark important anniversaries such as the centennial of World War I and the 150th of the close of the Civil War.
We hope that you will join us in supporting this venture. It allows the larger Wichita community to better connect with the study of history and its relevance to our world now. As Dr. Helen Hundley, one of the series’ founders, has put it, “I study the nineteenth century but I live in the twenty-first.”