Topic: College of Sciences and Humanities
February 14, 2007
<b>Christopher Thompson</b>
Historian
Christopher Thompson will give the 17th Annual Dorothy J. and Richard W. Burkhardt Lecture at 11 a.m. Feb. 23 at Ball State.
Thompson, an associate professor of history at Ball State, will speak on "Cycling in Search of France: The Tour de France and French Identities" at the Pittenger Student Center, Cardinal Hall.
The presentation, which is free and open to the public, also will be the keynote speech for the 10th Annual Student History Conference.
Thompson, who joined Ball State in 1996, is the director of graduate studies for the history department. In 2006, the University of California Press released his book, "The Tour de France: A Cultural History," which is receiving favorable reviews.
Thompson holds a bachelor's degree in French literature from Harvard University and a master's degree in French from Middlebury College. He also earned a master's and a doctoral degree from New York University.
He received a Chateaubriand Scholarship from the French government and a summer research grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
In addition to his book, Thompson has published a number of articles and book chapters and presented at least 10 conference papers. He is also a frequent invited lecturer.
The Burkhardt Lectures, part of the annual Provost's Lecture Series, are provided through a gift from the Burkhardts' three adult children to honor their parents' commitment to the Ball State community.
Generally, the lectures are on subjects relating to the Burkhardts' long-standing interest in culture, history and modern languages.
Dorothy Burkhardt was a Ball State French instructor, and Richard Burkhardt is a former provost and acting president, as well as a professor emeritus of history.
For more information, contact Jean Amman, assistant to the provost, at (765) 285-1333 or jamman@bsu.edu.