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  • Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series: Lisa Sarnoff Gochman

    Thanks to a generous donation, Dean David Golland is pleased to announce the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series for the 2025-2026 academic year. The Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series will invite authors to speak to groups of students, staff, faculty and administrators.

    In conjunction with Monmouth University’s Constitution Day, we are pleased to welcome Lisa Sarnoff Gochman, retired career appellate prosecutor and author, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at 2:45 p.m. in Pozycki Hall Auditorium (PZ115). Gochman’s memoir, “At the Altar of the Appellate Gods: Arguing before the Supreme Court”, details her experience arguing the landmark criminal sentencing case, Apprendi v. New Jersey, before the United States Supreme Court. Read the unofficial bonus chapter of Gochman’s memoir.

  • Organized Crime and Abortion (Works in Progress Seminar)

    Presenter: Katherine Parkin, Ph.D., Professor, Department of History and Anthropology; Jules Plangere, Jr., Endowed Chair in American Social History

    Organized crime played a role in the experience of many securing, providing, and paying for abortions before they were legalized. The high rates for the procedure made illegal abortion in the 1960s the third largest moneymaker for organized crime. However, most studies by historians, criminologists, and sociologists have not considered how, where, and when organized criminals and their accomplices profited from abortion. This study of organized crime includes those providing abortions and lending money nationally, including relatives of Frank Sinatra and Drea de Matteo (“The Sopranos”) who provided illegal abortions in New York City.

  • Communication Career Panels and Networking Event

    Presented by the Department of Communication and the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences

    Career Panels

    1:30–3:45 p.m., Third Floor

    “All the Place You’ll Go! Diverse Careers in Communication”

    2:45–3:45 p.m., Third Floor

    Networking Session with Panelists and Alumni

    3:45–4:15 p.m., Second Floor

    Internship/Job Fair

    3:30–5 p.m., Second Floor

    Job Hunt Preparation

    • One-on-One Resume Review
    • LinkedIn Headshots
    • Interview Training

  • CAC Presentation Series: “Medical Trauma: Emotional Implications and Crisis Intervention”

    CAC Presentation Series: Alumni Status

    Medical Trauma: Emotional Implications and Crisis Intervention

    Presenter: Alison Kulick, M.S., LPC, NCC, CVT

    Price: $20 for Alumni and Professionals, Free for Students

    2 CE Hours Provided

    Traumatic medical events such as illness, diagnostic, or therapeutic procedures can have a myriad of emotional consequences which can include PTSD, chronic anxiety, varying somatic symptoms such as panic attacks, and can lead to the avoidance of necessary medical procedures. This presentation will discuss the physical and psychological challenges associated with medical trauma as well as therapeutic interventions which may help mitigate the emotional suffering of these potentially profoundly distressing scenarios.

    Alison Kulick graduated with her master’s degree from the Clinical Mental Health program in 2019 from Monmouth University. She has her bachelor’s degree in Animal Science from Rutgers University/Cook College. She is a licensed professional counselor and national certified counselor and still maintains her credentialing as a certified veterinary technician.

  • Toni Morrison Day 2025

    Keynote Speaker: Autumn Womack

    Autumn Womack is an associate professor of African American studies and English at Princeton University. She is the author of “The Matter of Living: The Aesthetic Experiment of Racial Data, 1880-1930” (U. Chicago, 2022), which won the
    MLA’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize and was shortlisted for the Modernist Studies Association’s First Book Prize. At Princeton University she curated the critically acclaimed archival exhibition Toni Morrison: Sites of Memory, which brought over 150 never seen original archival objects into view. She is currently at work on two book projects that focus on Morrison: “The Wanderer: Toni Morrison and the Art of Creativity” and “Sites of Memory: Toni Morrison and the Politics of the Archive”.

  • The Eighth Biennial International Interdisciplinary Conference on Race

    Race and the Freedom to Learn

    Cosponsored by the William Monroe Trotter Institute for the Study of Black Culture at UMass Boston

    Location: Monmouth University Campus

    The freedom to learn has been inextricably linked to race across time and space. From the era of enslavement in the Americas to book burning in Nazi Germany down to the present humans around the globe have demanded the freedom to learn as a fundamental human right. This right to learn is intrinsically linked to race, gender, sexuality, and class -the denial of which diminishes society while threatening democracy. Denying groups and individuals the right to learn impacts everyone in society and oftentimes involves the censoring of curriculum, arrest of educators, and book banning or book burning. The freedom to learn has been particularly denied to marginalized communities including people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

    In November 2024, the International Interdisciplinary Conference on Race will focus on “Race and the Freedom to Learn” and invites papers from a range of disciplines, including history, anthropology, education, gender studies, ethnic studies, sociology, and other disciplines that have grappled with this subject. We welcome individual papers or complete panels from scholars, educators, artists, and activists whose work is related to race, its intersections, and the freedom to learn in history, society, and culture. We also seek papers from international scholars and offer a few travel stipends to scholars traveling from abroad to attend the conference.

  • Childhood and Youth in Modern China (Credit Hours for History Teachers)

    Presented by Melissa Brzycki, Ph.D.

    This two-hour session will look at norms and expectations for children and youth in 20th-century China, including changes to the educational system. We will look at how childhood and youth changed during colonization, war, and the advent of socialism. We will cover youth-led movements like the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and Tiananmen Square protests. This session will also introduce participants to online, freely available, translated primary sources for learning more about these topics. This session will also introduce participants to online, freely available, translated primary sources for learning more about these topics, and participants will leave with a list of resources.

    Relevant NJDOE Social Studies Standards: 6.2.12.EconET.5.b Articulate a point of view which assesses the reasons for and consequences of the growth of communism and shift toward a market economy in China.

  • Archaeology and Enslavement in New Jersey (Credit Hours for History Teachers)

    Presented by Adam Heinrich, Ph.D.

    This two-hour session will look at the archaeological evidence for the lives of enslaved people in New Jersey of both African and Native American descent. The roles and lives of enslaved people have frequently been overlooked in New Jersey histories and at historical sites. Over the last several years, archaeological investigations have been able to identify the presence of enslaved people through the evidence of their lives and culture. This has included how they coped with their lives held in bondage and maintained traditional lifeways. Artifacts discussed will include grave markers, food remains, and spiritual items. Images used during the session will be available to the attendees for use in their classrooms.

    Relevant NJDOE Social Studies Standards: 6.1.12.HistoryCA.2.a Research multiple perspectives to explain the struggle to create an American identity; and 6.1.12.HistoryUP.2.a Using primary sources, describe the perspectives of African Americans, Native Americans, and women during the American Revolution and assess the contributions of each group on the outcome of the war.

  • LGBTQ and Disability History and Comics (Credit Hours for History Teachers)

    Presented by Maryanne Rhett, Ph.D.

    This two-hour session will look at how graphic novels (comics, sequential art, etc.) can be utilized in middle and high school settings to aid in the instruction on the political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The history of comics is actually rich in terms of these fields, and more recent graphic histories have elucidated the depth of these histories, both in the US and worldwide. A digital “swag bag” will be available to participants after the session, including useful links, bibliography, and session outline.

    Relevant NJDOE Social Studies Standards: 6.1.12.HistorySE.14.a Explore the various ways women, racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, and individuals with disabilities have contributed to the American economy, politics, and society.

  • Military Strategy of the American Civil War (Credit Hours for History Teachers)

    Presented by Christopher DeRosa, Ph.D.

    This two-hour session traces how Union and Confederate plans for victory evolved over the course of the war. We will look at how American geography, contemporary military thinking, the available technology, and the contestants’ capacity for mobilization influenced their strategic choices. In particular, we will consider the profound struggle between slavery and emancipation as a fundamental determinant of war strategy. Along the way, we will touch on why the reputations of particular leaders like Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee have fluctuated over the years. Detailed outline, PowerPoint slides, and links will be shared for 6th-12th grade teachers’ use.

    Relevant NJDOE Social Studies Standards: 6.1.12.GeoSV.4.a Use maps and primary sources to describe the impact geography had on the military, political, and economic decisions during the Civil War.