ISSUED: 11 March 2020
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — This event has been canceled.
Shepherd University’s President’s Lecture Series will present “Is History Relevant,” an evening with Dennis Frye, former chief historian at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and an alumnus of Shepherd, on Tuesday, March 24, at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education auditorium. Frye will discuss history in light of current events and political discussion that includes accusations of fake news and alternative facts. The event is free and open to the public.
Frye graduated from Shepherd summa cum laude, where he earned a B.A. in history, was a McMurran Scholar, was named Shepherd’s Outstanding History Major, and served two years as president of Shepherd’s Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society. Frye worked for more than three decades for the National Park Service (NPS), retiring after 20 years as chief historian at Harpers Ferry. His NPS career contributions as an innovative educator and nationally renowned preservationist were acknowledged by the Department of Interior’s Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor.
Frye is author of 11 books and 104 articles. He received national awards for his books “Confluence: Harpers Ferry as Destiny,” “September Suspense: Lincoln’s Union in Peril,” and “Under Fire: Harpers Ferry in the Civil War.” He also received national acclaim for his book “Antietam Shadows: Mystery, Myth & Machination.”
Frye has appeared as a Civil War scholar on PBS, History Channel, C-SPAN, A&E, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, and Voice of America. He helped produce Emmy Award-winning programs on John Brown, Antietam, and Maryland in the Civil War. He is a co-founder and past president of the American Battlefields Trust, and co-founder and first president of the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Frye has also served as a battlefield guide for the Smithsonian, National Geographic, The New York Times, and major universities such as Harvard and Princeton.
For more information, contact Karen Rice, director of Lifelong Learning, at krice@shepherd.edu.
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