The Menno Simons Lectureship endowment fund promotes research and public lectures by recognized scholars relating to Anabaptist-Mennonite history, thought, life and culture, both past and present.
In 1950, the John P. and Carolina Schrag Kaufman family established the Menno Simons Lectureship Endowment. In 1997, the family of William E. and Meta Goering Juhnke contributed substantially to the endowment. The Kaufman and Juhnke families had their roots in the Eden Mennonite Church, Moundridge, Kan.
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2024
Dr. Eric Schmaltz presented “Russian Mennonite Diasporas on Four Continents in the Age of Empires, Revolutions, and Extremes Since the Late 19th Century” on Oct. 27-28.
Schmaltz is professor of history and global studies at Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU), Alva. He has a B.A. in history and German language from Saint Olaf College, an M.A. in history from the University of North Dakota-Grand Forks, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specializing in ethnic Germans in Russia and the former USSR, along with ethnic and nationalities issues,
genocide studies, and migration and transnational topics. He has served as chair of social sciences at NWOSU since 2019. In 2021, he was named to the Donovan Reichenberger Chair in History.
Schmaltz is co-founder and co-director of the endowed NWOSU Institute for Citizenship Studies and co-editor of its journal Civitas. From 2010-20, he served as GRHS Heritage Review editor (now editor-at-
large). He has been on the AHSGR Journal editorial board since 2008 and is a member of the Academic Board of Advisors of the Volga German Institute at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.
Lectures (videos to be published soon):
- Lecture 1: Pioneers in the East: Mennonite Migrations and Settlements in the Former Russian Empire and the Former USSR, 1786-Present
- Lecture 2: Pioneers in the West: Russian Mennonite Diasporas to North America (Belize, Canada, Mexico and the United States), 1874-Present
- Lecture 3: Pioneers in the South: Russian Mennonite Diasporas to South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay), 1874-Present