Professional Presentations
(Omitting classroom and church presentations)

Panelist, “The History of the Papacy, Part 2: The Papacy and Church Government.” One Hundred Thirty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, January 4-7, 2024, San Francisco, California. 

“St. Peter Damian Looks at Military Violence.” In De Re MIlitari: Medieval Military History III. Fifty-Eighth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, May 11-13, 2023 

Medieval History Arrives in Texas Universities.” In Bringing Medieval History to Texas.” Centers & Peripheries: The Global Premodern," Lubbock TX, Texas Tech University, April 20-22, 2023. 

Chair, “Learning Institutionalized: The Making and Re-Making of University Education from Medieval Bologna and Paris to Modern Lubbock,” Centers & Peripheries: The Global Premodern," Lubbock TX. Texas Tech University, April 20-22, 2023. 

Chair, “Transfers of Manuscripts, Norms, and Practices from Locale to Locale,” Sixteenth International Congress on Medieval Canon Law,, Saint Louis MO, Saint Louis University, July 17-23, 2022. 

“Academic Rhetoric and Peter Damian’s Biblical Exegesis.” In Biblical Exegesis and Preaching II Fifty-seventh International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, May 9-14, 2023. 

"Real and Rhetorical Worlds: Dealing with Medieval Verbal Macroagressions." MRSC Virtual Spring Symposium, Lubbock TX, Texas Tech University, April 24, 2021.

"Presidential Address: The Gregorian Reform in a Global Perspective." Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Lubbock TX, Texas Tech University, October 25-17, 2018.

"Address at the Opening Cerermony of the Exhibition on "Pre-Modern Bibles: From the Deadf Sea Scrolls to the Complutensian Polyglot Bible." Lubbock, Tx, The Museum of Texas Tech Uinversity, September 8, 2018.

Chair, "The Twelfth Century." Fifty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI, May 10-13, 2018.

Comment, "Monastic Rules." Forty-Fourth Annual Sewanee Medieval Colloquium.  Sewanee,TN, The University of the South, April 12-14, 2018.

"Biblical Scholars and the Origins of the Professorial Image." Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Waco, TX, Baylor University, September 29-30, 2017.

The Pilgrim's Reward: Early Medieval Conceptions of the Benefits of the Jerusalem Pilgrimage." Fifty-Second International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI, May 11-14, 2017.

Chair, "Old English I: Anglo-Saxon Learning."  Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association.College Station TX, Texas A& M University, September 23-25, 2016.

 "Saints' Lives as Host Gifts: Rewriting Hagtiographical Texts in Return for Hospitality."  Fifty-First International Congress on Medieval  Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, May 12-15, 2016.

Chair, "Virtuous Laity: The Piety of Non-Church Officials." Fifty-First International Congress on Medieval  Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, May 12-15, 2016.

"Joining the Choir: The Role of Music in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Schools." Twenty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, San Marcos TX,  Texas State University, October 16-18, 2015.

Chair, "Gregorian Reform / Ecclesiastical Reform: Italian Perspectives on Historiographical Traditions in Dialogue" and "The Papacy of the Early Twelfth Century." Twenty-First International Medieval Congress, Leeds UK, University of Leeds Institute for Medieval Studies, July 6-9, 2015.

Chair,  "New Approaches to Tenth- and Eleventh-Century European Reform." Fiftieth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, May 14-17,  2015.

 Chair, "Medieval Re-Uses." Twenty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Denton TX, University of North Texas, October 3-4, 2014.

"Were the Seven Liberal Arts Basic for Early Medieval Education?" Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Canyon TX, West Texas A & M University, September 26-28, 2013.

Chair,  "The University and the World: The Early University of Paris and Its Influence." Forty-Eighth International Congress on Medieval  Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, 9-12 May 2013.

Chair,   "Late Medieval and Early British Literature" and "Heretics and Medieval Dissidents in Italy and England." Twenty-Second Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Houston TX, University of Houston, October 12-13, 2012.

"The Gregorian Reform as Part of the Post-Carolingian Revival."   Forty-Seventh International Congress on Medieval  Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, 12-15 May 2012.

Presider "Encountering the Other in Medieval Life and Text: Sessions in Honor of John McCulloh II." Forty-Seventh International Congress on Medieval  Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, 12-15 May 2012.

"Controlling Territory:  Do Medieval and Contemporary Military Realities Illuminate Each Other?" Twenty-First Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Waco TX, Baylor University, 29 September -1 October 2011.

Chair, “Medievalism and Periodization.” Eighty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Phoenix AZ, Arizona State University, 14-16 April 2011.

Chair and Commentator. “Professional Hagiographers:  Writers and Assemblers.” Forty-Sixth International Congress on Medieval  Studies, Kalamazoo MI, Western Michigan University, 12-15 May 2011.

"Did Peter Damian Actually Die in 1073? New Perspectives on His Last Days."  20th Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Southern Methodist University, September 24-26, 2010.

"Attaining the Pilgrim's Goal:   Urban II's Spiritual Rewards for the First Crusade," at Crusades:  Medieval Worlds in Conflict.  The Second International Symposium on Crusade Studies, Saint Louis University, St. Louis MO, February 17-20, 2010

Chair, Panel 5(3):  The Crusading Orders, Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Texas Medieval Association, University of Texas, Austin TX, 23-24 October 2009.

“The Benedictine Rule in the Early Middle Ages: “Constitution” or Memorandum?”  Forty-Fourth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI,  6-9 May 2009.

"What Hath Gert Wrought?  Gerhart Ladner and the Recent History of the History of Reform:  A Roundtable of Ladner's Students" (with Louis B. Pascoe SJ and Phillip Stump). Eleventh Biennial Conference of the International Seminar on Pre-Reformation Theology at Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary and the American  Cusanus Society, 10-12 October 2008.

"Texas Medieval Association Presidential Address:  Class Pictures," Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Texas Medieval Association, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 2-5 October 2008.

 “Voluntary Flagellation:  From Local to Learned Tradition.” Forty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 8-11 May 2008.

"Baronio e San Domenico di Sora."  Presented at Baronio e le sue fonti:  Convegno internazionale di studi, Sora (Italy), 10-13 ottobre 2007.

"Comment" on "Medieval I."  Fifty-Third Annual Meeting of the Society for French Historical Studies, University of Houston, Houston TX, 16-17 March 2007.

 "Urban’s Promise of Spiritual Rewards:  Dana Munro and Ecclesiastical History.”  Forty-First International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 6-9 May 2006.

"The Pre-Gregorian Reform."  Fifteenth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, University of Houston, Houston TX, 13-15 October 2005.

“Ascetics and Icons:  Transcending Cultural Lines through Personal Images of Holiness.” Eightieth Annual Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America, Miami Beach, hosted by Florida International University and the University of Miami, 2005.

"St. Berardus of Marsica (d. 1130), Model Gregorian Bishop."   Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, University of Dallas, Irvine TX, 17-18 September 2004.

"Medieval Ecclesiastical Institutions and Resource Conservation: Churches and "Wilderness" in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries." Thirty-Ninth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 6-9 May 2004.

"The Revival of the Latin Church: The "Pre-Gregorian" Reform." Erasmus Institute Seminars, April 14, 2004, February 11, 2004, November 12, 2003.

"Music of the Spheres? Did the Staff System of Musical Notation Develop from Astronomical Figures?" Co-sponsored by the Medieval Institute and the Erasmus Institute of the University of Notre Dame.  February 26, 2004.

"Gaudium et Spes: Ecclesiastical Reformers at the Start of a New Age." Ecclesia Semper Reformanda: Vatican II. Aggiornamento, and Church Reform before Modernity. A Conference on the Fortieth Anniversary of Vatican II, August 3-4, 2002, at Fordham University.

"Benedictine Hermit Life in Italy." Thirty-Seventh International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 2-5 May 2002.

Chair for "Narrative, Narratives, Narrativity III: Religious Texts and Problems," sponsored by the Meideval Academy of America.Thirty-Seventh International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 2-5 May 2002.

"Music of the Spheres? Astronomical Antecedents of the Staff System of Musical Notation." Rice University Medieval Colloquium, Houston TX, 22 February 2002.

Chair for "Landscapes of Sanctity." Thirty-Sixth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 3-6 May 2001.

"The Millennial Reform of the Church." Presentation at the Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical StudiesMedieval Seminar, Princeton NJ, 27 March 2001.

"Music of the Spheres? Astronomical Antecedents of the Staff System of Musical Notation." Lunchtime Colloquium of the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton NJ, 26 February 2001.

"The Church at the Millennium." Invited Lecture, Student Life Program, University of Dallas, Dallas TX, 6 April 2000.

"To Kill a Monastery: Images and Realities of Monastic Disruptions." Illinois Medieval Association Meeting, Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago IL, 19 February 2000.

"Voluntary Flagellation: From Local to Learned Tradition?" Ninth Annual Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, West Texas A & M University, Canyon TX, 11 September 1999.

"Creating Symbolic Landcapes: Medieval Development of Sacred Space." The Medieval Landscape: Conference and Fair at the Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, 10 April 1999.

"Creating Symbolic Landcapes: Medieval Development of Sacred Space." History Department Faculty Research Colloquium, Texas tech Uinversity, Lubbock TX, 30 March 1999.

Chair for "The Art of France." Conference of French Historians in Texas, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 13 February 1999.

"Hagiography and History: A Review of Recent Trends." Thirty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 7-10 May 1998.

"St. Berardus of Marsica (d. 1130), Model Gregorian Bishop." Joint Meeting of the Medieval Academy of America / Medieval Association of the Pacific Conference (Seventy-Third Annual Meeting of MAA; 1998 Annual Meeting of MAP), Stanford University, Palo Alto CA, 28 March 1998.

"Early Christian History." Lubbock Independent School District Core Knowledge Curriculum Symposium, Roscoe Wilson Elementary School, Lubbock TX, 10 October 1997.

"Images of Hermits from Greek East to Latin West." Art Seminar, Women's Council of the West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock TX, 5 March 1997.

"Early Medieval History and the Crusades." Art Seminar, Women's Council of the West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock TX, 26 February 1997.

"Dual Credit Courses in Texas." Western Association of Faculty Governance, University of Houston, Houston TX, 15 February 1997.

Chair and Comment for "Monastic and Secular Lordship in the Eleventh Century." Fifteenth International Conference of the Charles Homer Haskins Society for Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Angevin History, University of Houston, Houston TX, 9 November 1996.

"Medieval History." Museum Science Forum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 9 October 1996.

"Peter Damian and Monte Cassino." Joint Conference of the Southeastern and Texas Medieval Associations (Twenty-First Annual Meeting of SEMA; Sixth Annual Conference of TEMA), Baylor University, Waco TX, 5 October 1996.

"Early Christian History." Art Seminar, Women's Council of the West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock TX, 25 September 1996.

"From Local to Learned Tradition? Voluntary Flagellation in Western Spirituality." Thirty-First International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 10 May 1996.

Presentation of the John Gilmary Shea Book Prize. Seventy-Sixth Annual Meeting of American Catholic Historical Association, Atlanta GA, 6 January 1996.

"What Is Effective Teaching?" Panel Discussion on Effective Teaching for the Communication Studies Graduate Student Teaching Seminar, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 17 October 1995.

"Edificing Knowledge: Building New Humanities Research Institutes." "Pizza with the Profs," TTU Honors Program, Texas Tech University, 11 October 1995.

"Images of Hermits in Greek and Latin Art through the Thirteenth Century." Seminar of the Deutsches historisches Institut Paris, Paris, 11 May 1995.

"Current Research in Medieval Hagiography." UCLA Medieval Latin Colloquium, UCLA, Los Angeles CA, 24 February 1995.

Presentation of the John Gilmary Shea Book Prize. Seventy-Fifth Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association, Chicago IL, 7 January 1995.

"Reading the Vita Leopardini in the Context of the Peace of God." Twenty-Ninth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 7 May 1994.

Panel Member, "Proposal Development Workshop." Office of Research Services, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 13 April 1994.

Chair and Commentator for "The Monastic Imagination." Twelfth International Conference of the Charles Homer Haskins Society for Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Angevin History, University of Houston, Houston TX, 13 November 1993.

"Beacon or Flare? Conceptual Models of Monte Cassino's Literary Tradition." Twenty-Eighth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 8 May 1993.

"Academic Weaknesses among Entering Freshmen." Springlake-Earth Academic Conference, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 29 October 1992.

"Contra Depravatos Saeculi Mores": Gregorian Reform Themes in a Reconstituted Vita Hildulfi (BHL 3947-3948)." Second Annual International Conference of the Texas Medieval Association, Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX, 11 September 1992.

"The Conversion of the Wilderness: The Creation of a Christian Landscape." Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces NM, 11 April 1992.

"Were Early Medieval Benedictine Monasteries `Textual Communities'?" First Annual International Conference of the Texas Medieval Association / Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Mid-America Medieval Association, University of North Texas, Denton TX, 28 February 1992.

Chair of "Death and Dying in the Middle Ages" and of "Haskins Society Session II: Incredible Journeys." Twenty-Sixth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 9 and 11 May 1991.

Participant in "Writing as Quest: The Grail and the Rose," an NEH Summer Seminar. Department of French and Italian, Stanford University, Palo Alto CA, 8 July - 16 August 1991.

"Monasteria Semper Libera: Exemption and Immunity in Eleventh-Century Central Italian Monasteries." Twenty-Fifth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 11 May 1990.

Chaired "Ecclesiastical Activities, Sources and Concepts." Ninth International Conference of the Charles Homer Haskin Society for Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and Angevin History, University of Houston, Houston TX, 10 November 1989.

Chaired "Relics II" at "The Cult of Saints in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance: Formation and Transformation." Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton, 21 October 1989.

"Historical Research in Hagiography." Medieval Latin Colloquium, UCLA, Los Angeles CA, 4 November 1988.

Comment for "Capetian/Angevin Relationships: From Rivalry to Subordination." Sixteenth Annual Conference of the Western Society for French History, UCLA, Los Angeles CA, 3 November 1988.

"The Noble Patrons of St. Dominic of Sora." Twenty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 6 May 1988.

Comment on "Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Monastic Perceptions." Sixth International Conference of the Charles Homer Haskins Society for Viking, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Angevin History, University of Houston, Houston TX, 14 November 1987.

"The Nobility and Medieval Church Reform." Sixty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association, Dallas, 20 March 1987.

"Eastern and Western Hagiography of the 10th-12th Centuries." Panelist at the Twelfth Annual Byzantine Studies Conference, Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia PA, 11 October 1986.

"Guilds and Patronage." Art Seminar, Women's Council of the West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock TX, 7 October 1986.

Comment on "`Shoulders of Giants': Classical and Patristic Influences on Emminent Anglo-Normans." Twenty-First International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 10 May 1986.

Comment on "Martyr Cult and Urban Patronage in the Late Antique Negev." Annual Meeting of the Association of Ancient Historians, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 3 May 1986.

"The Hagiographical Dossier as History: The Lives of Dominic of Sora." Twentieth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 11 May 1985.

"Early Medieval History." Art Seminar, Women's Council of the West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock TX, 22 January 1985.

"The Use of Source Collections in Teaching Historical Research Skills." Conference of the South Plains Area Council of the Texas Joint Council of Teachers of English, TTU, Lubbock TX, 10 November 1984.

"Early Christian History." Art Seminar, Women's Council of the West Texas Museum Association, Lubbock TX, 9 October 1984.

"Holy Land Hermitism and Its Influences." Nineteenth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 9 May 1984.

Commentator (and Organizer), "Saints and Scholars: Current Research on Medieval Hagiography." Ninety-Eighth Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, San Francisco CA, 30 December 1983.

Comment on "The Influence of Religious Thought." Seventy-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, San Diego State University, San Diego CA, 11 August 1983.

"St. Vigor of Bayeux and Norman Monastic Policy." First Annual Charles Homer Haskins Society Conference, University of Houston, Houston TX, 14 November 1982.

"St. Vigor of Bayeux and Norman Monastic Policy." History Department Faculty Colloquium, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 11 November 1982.

"Monastic Exploitation of the Religious Symbolism of the Forest." Seventeenth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 6 May 1982.

"Greek Influence on the Eleventh-Century Western Revival of Hermitism." Conference of Texas Medievalists, University of Texas, Austin TX, 26 March 1982.

Comment on "A Panorama of the Middle Ages." Southwestern Social Sciences Meeting, San Antonio TX, 18 March 1982.

"Handwriting and Historians" (with James Brink). Presentation to Phi Alpha Theta and the French Club, 13 November 1981.

"Cursus Analysis as an Aid to Hagiographical Dating." Sixteenth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 7 May 1981.

"Greek Influence on the Eleventh-Century Western Revival of Hermitism." Fourteenth International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo MI, 5 May 1979.

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