April 7, 2020
Message to Undergraduates about Thursday lunch and Friday Humanities Chat

Good morning, everyone,

I hope that you'll be able to drop in on one or both of our events for Humanities students this week.  At Thursday Lunch, Carl Caldwell (history), Kirsten Ostherr (English), and Luján Stasevicius (CLIC) will help lead a discussion about the challenges that the pandemic poses for liberal democracies (and for effective governance and leadership more generally).

We'll use Ian Beacock’s “Germany Get’s It” as a jumping off point for the conversation. Beacock is of the mind that the rhetoric we're drawn to in response to the current crisis speaks to the state and potential of our democratic values (and to the use of those values in responding to the current crisis).  Professors Caldwell, Ostherr, and Stasevicius each have some compelling questions along these lines.

Here’s the Zoom link for Thursday Lunch (April 9 at Noon.), but please also sign up here (because having a sense of the number of participants will help us to organize discussion).

The weekly Humanities Chat will take place at its regular time and place: Friday at Noon.  As usual, the agenda will mostly be driven by you and what you indicate that you would like to take up. Last week's discussion centered on syllabus revisions in Humanities courses and whether and how they have been effective in the face of the challenges now surrounding all of our work.

Here is the Zoom link for Friday’s Humanities Chat (April 3 at Noon). Please also sign up here (to add agenda items and also to give us a better sense of how to organize the meeting).

Take care,

Alex Byrd

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Alexander X. Byrd 
(he, him, his, Mr., Dr.)

Department of History MS-42
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251

Associate Professor of History
Assoc. Dean of Humanities 
for Undergraduate Programs &
Special Projects

Direct: 713-348-2541