Dr. Steven Stofferahn
Education
- Ph.D. - History, Purdue University - 2003
- M.A. - History, Purdue University - 1997
- B.A. - History and Music, Augustana College - 1994
Professional Webpage
After graduating from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and teaching for a year at Laurentius-Gymnasium in Neuendettelsau, Germany, Steven Stofferahn earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in early medieval history at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Since joining the Indiana State University faculty in 2004, he has developed courses ranging from the ancient world to medieval and early modern Europe, as well as seminars on European women's history, historical approaches to poverty, and millenarian movements. He has also served as a Faculty Fellow for the Center for Community Engagement, facilitating the Service-Learning Scholars Program from 2011 to 2016, and coordinated the College of Arts and Sciences' Community Semester in 2013 and 2014. In addition to publishing numerous articles on early medieval intellectual and political culture in Early Medieval Europe, Réflexions Historiques, The Historian, The Heroic Age, South Dakota History, and other journals, Dr. Stofferahn has co-edited Discovery and Distinction in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of John J. Contreni. He is currently at work on a biography of Fr. Pius Boehm (OSB), provisionally titled Iron Eyes: A Monk's Life and Mission among the Dakota Sioux.Awards and Honors
- Caleb Mills Distinguished Teaching Award - 2017
- Community-Based Learning and Scholarship Award - 2012
Teaching Interests
- Medieval and Early Modern Europe, Women's History, Ancient World, Honors, including the following courses: HIST 101 (World Civilization I), HIST 351 (The Ancient World), HIST 353 (The Middle Ages), HIST 409 (The Birth of Europe), HIST 439B (Women in European History), HIST 455 (The Renaissance), HIST 456 (The Reformation), Honors 101 (Witchcraft in Medieval and Early Modern Europe), Honors 301 (The End of the World: Apocalypticism through the Ages), and Summer Honors.
Intellectual Contributions
- "Down Too Deep": Father Pius Boehm, From Reluctant Missionary to Devoted Caretaker at Crow Creek, 1887-1935 - South Dakota History - 2020
- The Aid of Saints: Reclaiming the Lives of Early Medieval Exiles - 2019
- The Persistence of Agrarian Activism: The National Farmers Organization in South Dakota - South Dakota Historical Society, Pierre, South Dakota - 2014
- Renovatio Abroad: The Politics of Education in Carolingian Italy - Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan - 2013
- Discovery and Distinction in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of John J. Contreni - Medieval Institute Press, Kalamazoo, Michigan - 2013
Presentations
- Newly Discovered Neumes in the Binding of a 1502 Calepino Dictionary. International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, Michigan), 2019.
- What Does the Future Hold for History Departments?. Indiana Association of Historians Annual Conference (Hanover, Indiana), 2019.
- Conversion Reconsidered: Changes of Heart at Crow Creek, 1887-1935. Western History Association Conference (San Antonio, TX), 2018.
- Justifying Just Deserts: Carolingian Exile as Imperfect Imperial Ideal. American Historical Association Conference (New York, NY), 2015.
- Early Medieval Echoes: Monastic Missionaries to the Sioux, 1887-1910. International Medieval Congress (Leeds, England), 2015.
Research Interests
- Medieval Europe, Carolingians, Missionaries, Manuscripts, Political Culture
University Service
- Role: University Senate Service - Student Affairs Committee 2018 - 2022
- Role: University Senate Service - Faculty Affairs Committee 2016 - 2018
- Role: University Senate Service - Faculty Senate Executive Committee 2017 - 2018
- Role: Program Coordinator - Service-Learning Scholars 2011 - 2016
- Role: Program Organizer - World Travel Scholarship 2007
Professional Service
- Role: Officer, President/Elect/Past - Indiana Association of Historians 2019 - 2021
- Role: Officer, Vice President - Indiana Association of Historians 2018 - 2019
- Role: Officer, President/Elect/Past - Midwest Medieval History Conference 2007 - 2016
- Role: Program Organizer - Medieval Academy of America 2013 - 2015
Public/Community Service
- Role: Board Member - Vigo County Historical Society 2019
After graduating from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and teaching for a year at Laurentius-Gymnasium in Neuendettelsau, Germany, Steven Stofferahn earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in early medieval history at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Since joining the Indiana State University faculty in 2004, he has developed courses ranging from the ancient world to medieval and early modern Europe, as well as seminars on European women’s history, historical approaches to poverty, and millenarian movements. He has also served as a Faculty Fellow for the Center for Community Engagement, facilitating the Service-Learning Scholars Program from 2011 to 2016; coordinated the College of Arts and Sciences' Community Semester in 2013 and 2014; and now serves as Chair of the Department of History and President of the Indiana Association of Historians. In addition to publishing numerous articles on early medieval intellectual and political culture in Early Medieval Europe, Réflexions Historiques, The Historian, The Heroic Age, Enarratio, and other journals, Dr. Stofferahn has co-edited Discovery and Distinction in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of John J. Contreni. He is currently at work on a biography of Fr. Pius Boehm (OSB), provisionally titled Iron Eyes: A Monk’s Life and Mission among the Dakota Sioux.
"The Work of Historians," STATE Magazine (2016)
Ph.D., History, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (2003)
M.A., History, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (1997)
B.A., History and Music, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, SD (1994)
Recent Publications
“‘Down Too Deep’: Father Pius Boehm, From Reluctant Missionary to Devoted Caretaker at Crow Creek, 1887-1935,” South Dakota History 49 (2020).
“Dhuoda” in The Routledge Medieval Encyclopedia Online, ed. Régine Le Jan (Routledge, anticipated 2020).
“The Aid of Saints: Reclaiming the Lives of Early Medieval Exiles” Enarratio 22 (2019): 24-37.
“Lucky Bastards: Illegitimacy and Opportunity in Carolingian Europe,” The Heroic Age 18 (2017).
“Nebuchadnezzar and Charlemagne: Exile in Ninth-Century Carolingian Exegesis” in From Theodulf to Rashi and Beyond: Texts, Techniques, and Transfer in Western European Exegesis (650-1100), ed. Frans van Liere (Leiden: Brill, anticipated 2020).
“The Persistence of Agrarian Activism: The National Farmers Organization in South Dakota,” in The Plains Political Tradition: Essays on South Dakota Political Culture, Vol. 2, ed. Jon K. Lauck, John E. Miller, and Donald C. Simmons, Jr. (Pierre: South Dakota Historical Society, 2014), 209-41.
Discovery and Distinction in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of John J. Contreni, co-editor with Cullen J. Chandler (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University, 2013).
“Renovatio Abroad: The Politics of Education in Carolingian Italy,” in Discovery and Distinction in the Early Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of John J. Contreni, eds. Cullen J. Chandler and Steven A. Stofferahn (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute of Western Michigan University, 2013), 149-63.
“Resonance and Discord: Rethinking Early Medieval Political Culture,” Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques 36 (2010): 4-16.
“Knowledge for Its Own Sake? A Practical Humanist in the Carolingian Age,” The Heroic Age 13 (2010).
Recent Presentations
“Newly Discovered Neumes in the Binding of a 1502 Calepino Dictionary,” with Thomas J. Johnson. International Congress on Medieval Studies. Western Michigan University. Kalamazoo, Michigan. May 2019.
“Collaboration Opportunities between Institutional Research and Academic Departments,” with Margaret L. Dalrymple. Association for Institutional Research International Conference. Denver, Colorado. May 2019.
“Conversion Reconsidered: Changes of Heart at Crow Creek, 1887-1935.” Western History Association Conference. San Antonio, Texas. October 2018.
“Books, Bookends, and Bookworms: Exploring Medieval Manuscripts with Students in and out of the Classroom.” Medieval Association of the Midwest Conference. Purdue University. West Lafayette, Indiana. October 2018.
“Medieval Music Fragments from the Binding of a 1502 Calepino Dictionary,” with Thomas J. Johnson. American Musicological Society Midwest Chapter Meeting. Ball State University. Muncie, Indiana. April 2018.
“A Different Perspective: What Academic Departments Can Do with Institutional Data,” with Margaret L. Dalrymple. Indiana Association for Institutional Research Annual Conference. Indianapolis, Indiana. March 2018.
“Changing Minds: With Manuscripts in Hand, Do Students Get More Medieval?” Midwest Medieval History Conference. Western Michigan University. Kalamazoo, Michigan. September 2017.
“Conversion Reconsidered: Changes of Heart at Crow Creek, 1887-1935.” Northern Great Plains History Conference. Saint Cloud State University. Saint Cloud, Minnesota. September 2016.
“Magna Carta Revisited: Myth, Truth, and the Realm of Ideals.” Symposium on Magna Carta and the Rule of Law. United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana. Federal Hall, Indiana State University. Terre Haute, Indiana. September 2015. (Reprised for United States District Court, Birch Bayh Federal Building, Indianapolis, Indiana, November 2015.)
“Early Medieval Echoes: Monastic Missionaries to the Sioux, 1887-1910.” International Medieval Congress. Leeds, England. July 2015.
“Justifying Just Deserts: Carolingian Exile as Imperfect Imperial Ideal.” American Historical Association Conference. New York. January 2015.
“‘The Power That Thing Could Have Had’: The National Farmers Organization and Agrarian Activism in South Dakota.” The Plains Political Tradition Book Launch Conference. Vermillion, South Dakota. November 2014.
“Impacts and Outcomes of Service and Engagement at Indiana State University.” Co-Presenter with Nancy Rogers, Heather Miklozek, and Catherine Paterson. Engagement Scholarship Consortium Conference. University of Alberta. Edmonton, Canada. October 2014.
“Cicero, Suetonius, and Einhard: In Search of Virtue.” Indiana Junior Classics League Convention. Bloomington, Indiana. March 2014.
“Medieval Mindsets in Surprising Spaces: Indiana Monk-Missionaries on the American Great Plains, 1887-1954.” Medieval Association of the Midwest Conference. Terre Haute, Indiana. September 2013.
“China in America: Teaching Chinese History in World Civilization Survey Courses at ISU.” A pedagogical presentation to the faculty and students of Liaoning Normal University. Dalian, China. May 2012.
“Nebuchadnezzar and Charlemagne: Exile in Ninth-Century Carolingian Exegesis.” Von Theodulf zu Raschi: Sondierungen zu den Anfängen der europäischen Bibelwissenschaft. Hochschule für Jüdische Studien. Universität Heidelberg. September 2011.
“The Madness of Father Meinrad: Monk, Missionary, and Malcontent on the Plains, 1876-1898.” Northern Great Plains History Conference. Mankato, Minnesota. September 2011.
“Ambiguous Authorities, Conflicted Loyalties: Monastic Missionaries on the Crow Creek Dakota Reservation, 1887-1910.” Missouri Valley History Conference, Omaha. Nebraska. March 2011.
“Vitae Verity: Reality and Unreality in Early Medieval Saints’ Lives.” International Congress on Medieval Studies. Westerm Michigan University. Kalamazoo, Michigan. May 2011.
Medieval, Ancient, Early Modern Europe