Current Projects
The Center for Military, War, and Society Studies (CMWSS) facilitates essential conversations about – and with – the U.S. military, holding national or international symposia that bring together scholars, policy makers, and members of the armed forces. We foster research on the U.S. military on the KU campus and beyond, supporting scholarship that examines the military not only as an instrument of national defense but also as a central institution in American society. We also support "War and Society" scholarship, asking how changing social and cultural factors help to shape military institutions and affect ways of waging war, how warfare and conflict affect the broader society, economy, and culture of the United States and other nations, and how war and the military are understood and represented in American life.
Teaching Military History Website
Given the recent public lament that academia is destroying military history, it seems a good time to consolidate some information about the strength of military history, broadly defined, in our universities and to offer those of us who teach it some additional resources and sense of community. With that goal, KU’s Center for Military, War, and Society Studies is putting together a “Teaching Military History” website, to be followed by a symposium on the topic (likely in 2023). The website, which is being developed by Center director Beth Bailey and graduate assistant Marjorie Galelli, will focus on both undergraduate- and graduate-level college and university courses, as well as on grades 6-12. For the university-level section, we are collecting course syllabi from as wide a range of military history courses as possible, along with assignments that might serve as inspiration for other instructors, and are developing a comprehensive list of available digital resources for teaching military history.
On the website, syllabi and assignment will be listed by category, and instructors will be able to introduce or contextualize their material, should they wish. We also will feature individual assignments, syllabi, and digital resources on a rotating schedule, with each featured assignment, syllabus, or resource accompanied by a brief video from its creator. The website will emphasize that each syllabus and assignment is the intellectual property of the instructor that developed it, and is shared on this site as a resource for others teaching in the field.
If you’re willing to share material, please email Marjorie Galelli (galelli@ku.edu), who will follow up to get your material and any context or information you want to accompany it.