As part of the Harrison Township Historical Society’s spring series of concerts and lectures, the Richwood Academy Cultural Center will host Rowan University’s Dr. William Carrigan on Sunday at 3 p.m.
The history professor will focus on the 10 most important events in Rowan University’s first century, coinciding with the school’s celebration of its centennial. It was founded in September of 1923, became Glassboro State College in 1958 and was renamed for industrialist Henry Rowan in 1997.
“In 2022, the Chronicle of Higher Education listed Rowan University as the third fastest-growing public research university in the nation,” said Carrigan, “a radical change from the institution’s origins as a teacher preparation college in 1923, initially called Glassboro Normal School.”
Carrigan’s lecture will look at how the university has changed and its growth over the years, including its hosting of a 1967 summit between President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin when it was still known as Glassboro State. Carrigan has been teaching at the school for 25 years, according to the Harrison Township Historical Society.
“Dr. Carrigan is a distinguished professor of history at Rowan University and is the author of numerous scholarly articles and four books,” noted the society’s Christopher Knisely. “At Rowan, he has taught over 100 courses on topics such as the Civil War and Reconstruction, the American West and the history of New Jersey.
The Organization of American Historians named Carrigan a distinguished lecturer in American History in 2014, and this year he was also the recipient of the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award.
Some of Carrigan’s more recent writing includes “African Americans and the Lynching of Foreign Nationals in the United States” in the Journal of World History, and “The Rise, Fall, and Transformation of Consensus History” in “Bloomsbury History: Theory and Method.”
Attendance at the lecture is free but does require tickets that can be obtained on the historical society’s website at HarrisonHistorical.com.
Carrigan’s lecture and other events are made possible by funding from the Gloucester County Cultural and Heritage Commission at Rowan College of South Jersey, in partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New Jersey Historical Commission, Department of State.
