WVU Civil War Historian to speak in Charleston

Morgantown, W.Va., January 29, 2008: Peter S. Carmichael, Eberly Family Professor of Civil War Studies at WVU, will speak at the Norman Fagan Theatre at the Cultural Center in Charleston, WV, on Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 7:00 pm. His talk entitled Civil War Generals take to the Football Gridiron is free and open to the public as part of the Collegiate Series presented by the WV Division of Culture and History.

Professor Carmichael will take the analogy of football and war in a new direction by creating an all-star football team of Civil War officers. Imagining the positions that Robert E. Lee or Ulysses S. Grant might play offers new ways of thinking about leadership during America's bloodiest conflict. Carmichael will offer his line-up for an all-star team of Union and Confederate generals as a way to better understand why military professionals either enjoyed glory or suffered defeat on the battlefield.

“This talk provides an opportunity to take my research and make it accessible to a broader audience. I believe that the new program in Civil War Studies at WVU will bring a great deal of attention to the University and it will attract the attention of potential students as well as the general public,” Carmichael said about his position at WVU and the research he is conducting.

Carmichael joined WVU in 2007 after receiving a B.A. in history from Indiana University at Indianapolis in 1988, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Penn State University in 1992 and 1996. He was named a Mellon Research Fellow at the Virginia Historical Society in 2002 and also served as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park.

Dr. Carmichael’s appearance at the Cultural Center is co-sponsored by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

For additional information, please contact Rudy Almasy at (304) 293.4611.

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