Photo: Dr. John Schmalzbauer
CANTON, Mo. — Culver-Stockton College will host sociologist Dr. John Schmalzbauer for the annual Robison Lecture on Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m. in the Meaders Lounge in the Gladys Crown Student Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Schmalzbauer will present, “We Have Been Here Before: Pandemic and Religion in 1918 Missouri,” examining how religious communities across Missouri responded to the challenges of the 1918 influenza pandemic and what those historical responses can teach us about the relationship among faith, public life, and crisis.
Schmalzbauer teaches in the Missouri State University Department of Languages, Cultures, and Religion, where he holds the Blanche Gorman Strong Chair in Protestant Studies. His research and teaching focus on campus religious life, religion and health, and religion in popular culture.
For more than two decades, Schmalzbauer’s courses have explored the diverse religious traditions found throughout Missouri, including local congregations and American religious history. From 2008 to 2011, he contributed to the Christian Science Monitor and the PBS NewsHour Patchwork Nation Project, documenting the intersection of religion and politics in the Ozarks community of Nixa, Missouri.
He is the author of “People of Faith: Religious Conviction in American Journalism and Higher Education” (Cornell University Press, 2003) and co-author of “The Resilience of Religion in American Higher Education” (Baylor University Press, 2018). Schmalzbauer currently serves as principal investigator for the Landscape Study of Chaplaincy and Campus Ministry in the U.S.
The Robison Lecture Series was established by Dr. Georgia Robison Beale in honor of her father, Dr. Henry Barton Robison. The lecture series is dedicated to fostering dialogue and understanding on critical global issues, and each year, the initiative brings leading experts to campus to engage with audiences on topics ranging from politics and economics to culture and society.
Contact the Marketing & Public Relations Office, at pr@culver.edu or 573-288-6000 ext. 6728 for more information.
NOTE: A number that appears immediately after a person’s name (i.e. Jane Doe ’18) is a reference to the year that person earned their bachelor’s degree from Culver-Stockton.