Newman University welcomes history professor and expert Beth Bailey, Ph.D., who will speak from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 29, in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center.
Bailey is currently a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at the University of Kansas. She is also the founding director of the Military, War, and Society Center. She specializes in an array of topics, including military and U.S. society, war and society, history of gender and sexuality, and recent U.S. history.
“As far as the talk, right now I am working on a book about how the Army tried to manage what it called ‘the problem of race’ during the Vietnam War,” Bailey said. “I have a talk that I’ve given a couple of times that focused on hair, which branches out from race to the huge struggles over haircut policies for all soldiers, and examines the relationship between civilians and military during those tumultuous times.”
Some of Bailey’s publications include Understanding the U.S. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (2015), which she co-edited with Richard Immerman; America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force; and The First Strange Place: Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii, a book about World War II, which she co-authored with David Farber.
Bailey is the author of Sex in the Heartland, which analyzes the U.S. sexual revolution by focusing on Lawrence, Kan. It is one of her many works that delve into the history of gender and sexuality.
Bailey’s work has been recognized and supported by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Research throughout the years has taken her to several countries, including Australia, Indonesia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Japan.
In the past 29 years, Bailey has been invited to give over 80 talks to various universities, including Chongqing University in China, the American University of Beirut in Beirut, Lebanon, Cambridge University in the U.S., and many more. She has taught seminars, lecture courses, and workshops to both undergraduates and graduates in seven states.
Diana Stanley, president of the History Club at Newman, extended an invitation to all students. “In my experience, non-majors and minors enjoy history talks because they feature engaging speakers with topics not usually covered in the classroom.”
