VMI Department of History

Check out the recap of the Olmsted trip to France in the News-Gazette! Over spring furlough, eight VMI cadets toured Normandy and Paris as a part of the Olmsted Foundation Undergraduate Program.

They visited Normandy beaches, honored fallen VMI alumni at the American Cemetery, explored Versailles, and shared meals with active-duty Olmsted Scholars studying at the Sorbonne and École de Guerre.

Link to the article, penned by VMI’s Marianne Hause: https://www.thenews-gazette.com/article/14353,commissioning-cadets-explore-la-france

We are thrilled to announce that MAJ Zachary Deibel was recently named a 2026 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow!

The highly competitive fellowship, awarded to just 25 scholars selected from nearly 500 applicants, supports exceptional early-career researchers whose work addresses critical questions in education through funding, mentorship, and professional development.

MAJ Deibel received the fellowship in support of his book project, tentatively titled “Liberty’s Lessons: The Educational Politics of the American Revolution.” His research explores how debates over education and civic learning shaped the American Revolution, revealing how struggles over political authority were also contests over who should learn, what they should learn, and how political ideas were communicated during the founding era.

Please join us in congratulating MAJ Deibel on this outstanding achievement and national recognition!

See the press release here: https://naeducation.org/congratulations-to-the-2026-naed-spencer-fellowship-recipients/

Department of History faculty gearing up for commencement. Watching our history cadets walk across the stage is one of the highlights of every year!

📸: COL Dowling

Congratulations to the VMI Class of 2026! Some highlights from Commencement and Institute Awards.

Last week, the History Department celebrated its May 2026 graduates and this year’s departmental award winners with a luncheon. Congrats to the three cadets recognized for their academic achievements:

1. Aidan McDowell received the Not for Fame or Reward Scholarship.

2. Jack Hansen earned the Garnet Andrews Award, presented for the best paper written by a first classman on a military subject.

3. Colin Nicassio received the Gordon Graham Heiner Award, presented for the best paper written by a cadet on a subject connected with the history or traditions of VMI.

We offer a huge congratulations to all of our graduating cadets!

Highlights from an energetic “Last Day of Class” Debate in HI 300, U.S. Constitutional History with MAJ Mattie Webb. Both course sections came together for a highly competitive mock trial that centered many of the constitutional questions cadets explored throughout the semester. Cadets eagerly stepped into the role of Supreme Court justices, challenged one another’s arguments, and worked through difficult constitutional questions under pressure—all with section bragging rights hanging in the balance!

While only one side emerged victorious, all of the cadets enjoyed competing and thoughtfully engaging with constitutional history on the final day of class. It was a fun (and loud!) way to close out the spring semester.

Last week, VMI’s Constitutional History Program and the Rockbridge Historical Society hosted a roundtable titled “Revolutionary Women of Virginia and Rockbridge.” Faculty from VMI’s Department of History who participated on the panel included MAJ Madeleine Ramsey, MAJ Liz Schroepfer, and MAJ Mattie Webb, while LTC Mark Boonshoft delivered the opening remarks. They were joined by Eric Wilson (Rockbridge Historical Society), Lauren Duval (UVA’s Karsh Institute), and Michael Hill (Washington & Lee University). Together, the panelists explored the many ways Virginian women shaped American law and contributed to the nation’s constitutional history.

Last week, the Department of History hosted Yale University’s Dr. Artur Pericles Lima Monteiro on Post. Thank you to the Dean’s Academic Speakers Program and the Constitutional History program for providing the support for Dr. Monteiro’s visit. His evening presentation was well attended, and he generously met with cadets over lunch and a visit to a section of HI 300 (US Constitutional History). Cadets enjoyed learning more about the intersection of platform governance and free speech principles.

On Saturday, 18 April VMI’s Alpha-Gamma-Mu Phi Alpha Theta chapter (History Honor Society) hosted the 2026 Virginia Regional Conference. Thirty-one students and faculty representing fourteen schools traveled to VMI to attend the conference. Four VMI cadets presented their research: Anna Grace Adams ‘26, Jack Hansen ‘26, Joshua Stacy ‘27 and Iuri Amaral ‘28. Other members of PAT volunteered throughout the day. 
 
The following colleges, universities, and high schools were in attendance: Elon University, George C. Marshall High School, Hollins University, James Madison University, Liberty University, Marshall University, Southern Virginia University, University of Lynchburg, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Wesleyan University, College of William & Mary, and VMI. 

The keynote speaker was Dr. Richard Bell, from University of Maryland, Baltimore who gave a talk about his new book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World. 

P.A.T. thanks the John Adams Center ‘71 and the Constitution Program for their generous support of the conference.

MAJ Christopher Blunda represented the Institute when he joined colleagues from across Europe to participate in Ministerium Sermonis V: An International Colloquium on Augustine’s Sermons, Their Transmission and Impact, which was held at the monastery of San Millán de Yuso (La Rioja, Spain). During a session devoted to the theological and exegetical agenda of Augustine’s sermons, he delivered his paper “Augustine’s Interpretation of 1 Tim. 2:4 in Sermo 304” to an audience composed of historians, theologians, and philologists.