History department honors colleague with lecture series

PUEBLO –Colorado State University –Pueblo will host the Second Annual Bea Spade Memorial Lecture Series this month to honor departed colleague, Dr. Bea Spade, who passed away in July of 2012. 

The history department and chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta honor society have partnered with ASG, CHASS, the History Club and French Club to sponsor a two-day event.  Professor Ann Little of CSU in Fort Collins, a distinguished historian of early American history, will present two public presentations on campus as well as a special lecture at the Phi Alpha Theta and French Club initiation ceremonies and banquet. Little will present topics from her current research on the life and times of Esther Wheelwright, an English girl taken captive by the Wabanaki Indians in 1703 who became an Ursuline choir nun in Québec and the order’s only foreign-born Mother Superior. The events are free and open to the public with the exception of the March 20 dinner, which requires a ticket for entry.

On Wednesday, March 19, 7 p.m., Little will present “The Secret History of Early America: Communities of Women in the Northeastern Borderlands of North America,” in Library and Academic Resources Center 109.  Attendees are invited to stay afterwards for a reception in the LARC Archives and Special Collections. Dr. Spade generously donated her extensive collection of Mao materials to the  library as a resource for students and other researchers.
 
On Thursday, March 20, 11 a.m., Little will present “Keep me with you, so that I might not be damned: Captivity and Conversion in the Northeastern Borderlands” in the Occhiato University Center Aspen Leaf.

The final lecture by Little, “An American in Quebec City: Or, why all historians should do research in more than one language,” will be given in conjunction with the History Department Banquet and Phi Alpha Theta initiation ceremony beginning at 6 p.m. on March 20 at the Pueblo Union Depot, 132 West B Street.   The cost is $8 for non-students, $5 for students and children. Banquet tickets are on sale in Psychology 102 through Monday, March 17.

Spade joined the University faculty as a lecturer of history in August of 1990 and retired from teaching in June of 2012, having served as History Department Chair from 2000-2007.  She taught World History, specializing in Chinese History and Empires, after earning a Ph.D in East Asian Languages and Literature from Harvard University in 1981. Spade was beloved by students, many of whom graduated years ago, but still inquire about her and comment how much they enjoyed her classes. She served many terms on Faculty Senate and was the Senate representative to the State Board of Agriculture (then the Governing Board for the University of Southern Colorado) during 1995-96. She received the 2011 Faculty Excellence in Advising/Mentoring Award.

For more information contact Phi Alpha Theta co-advisors Dr. Paul Conrad at paul.conrad@csupueblo.edu or 719.549.2251 or Dr. Judy Gaughan at judy.gaughan@csupueblo.edu or 719.549.2417