Accessibility Statement
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The Public Humanist in the 2020s: Why Go Public and How to Get Started In-Person
In 2013, Dr. David Perry was irritated about how the media was reporting on the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI. Too many outlets were missing key facts about medieval history! So he wrote an op-ed for CNN about it. Now, with over 600 published essays, Perry has fully committed to public-facing work in wide-ranging fields -- not just history, but disability, politics, mental health, parenting, gender, and many more.
In this talk, Perry will draw from his own experiences to talk about the the role of the scholar and expert in this fraught moment, not just arguing that more of us should try to work as public scholars, but that we largely already possess the skills we need to do so. But we do need to learn to adapt our expertise and practices to meet new audiences where they are and, hopefully, bring them along for the journey.
David M. Perry is Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in the History Department at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. He received his PhD at Minnesota in 2006 and was a professor of medieval history at Dominican University from 2007-2017, writing scholarly articles and a book focused on the history of medieval Venice. His essays have appeared in dozens of outlets, including The New York Times, CNN, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. He is the co-author, with Matthew Gabriele, of The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe and Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe. His next books are The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026) and Men: A History of the Idea (Basic Books, expected 2027).
Light refreshments will be available and this event is free and open to the public. No registration is required, but is encouraged for planning purposes.
- Date:
- Tuesday, October 14, 2025
- Time:
- 4:00pm - 6:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Milano Reading Room
- Library:
- Downtown Campus Library
- Audience:
- Alumni Faculty Graduate Students Library Employees Public Undergraduate Students
- Categories:
- Humanities Center