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Samuel F. Emerson, the university’s very first Professor of History, began his career at UVM as a professor of Greek and Modern Languages. Keeping with the trend of his time, Emerson was named Professor of History in 1889, a position he held until his retirement in 1923. Trained in the German school of historical study, Emerson valued the facts of history and the lessons that could be learned from those facts. He was what R. G. Collingwood would call a "super-historian," combining both the empirical data of history and scientific knowledge of the human race. Emerson viewed education as more than simply learning; he felt it involved a transformation of the human spirit, an evolution via knowledge that provides the key to life. With the lecture series we hope to honor Emerson’s spirit, insight, and his vision for the future of the University of Vermont:

"The four years college curriculum and the coveted diplomas may constitute existence at the University, but they must not be mistaken for the life of the University. The life of the University consists in that fine scholarship, noble feeling, lofty purpose, high-minded-ness, and devotion to exalted aims which inspired the founders of the institution and which they transmitted to their successors. Existence at the University without participation in this life is barren and of little worth. But the spirit of this life once caught contains with in itself the seed of endless living."

Speaker Introduction by Jonathan Trutor, President, History Forum

Speaker Remarks by Dr. Armanios