Past Events

Since its founding in 2016, CSAW has hosted numerous events with the goal of engaging a large audience in topics relevant to the American West. Previously hosted events include lectures, the most prominent of which are included in the Garry L. Nall Lecture Series, conferences, presentations, and more. To see upcoming events, please click here.

Drawing from his background in laser physics and his entrepreneurial experience in founding Bridger Photonics, Roos’s lecture will describe his development of technology to detect leaks in natural gas pipelines using LiDAR from airplanes flying over pipelines.

Founded in 2006, Bridger Photonics developed Gas Mapping LiDAR™ as a data service to dramatically simplify the process of detecting, locating, and quantifying methane gas leaks across the entire natural gas value chain. This service is also being used by companies such as ExxonMobil and SoCalGas. As a result, Bridger partnered with Diversified Energy Company PLC in 2021 to perform multi-year aerial scans of the Company’s natural gas production and distribution assets starting with the Appalachian region.

This event was made possible with support from WT's Distinguished Lecture Series and is co-sponsored by WT's Department of English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages (EPML); Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business, College of Engineering; and Department of Life, Earth, and Environmental Sciences.

• Thursday, Sept. 5—Forgotten Frontera community conversation, 7 p.m., Harrington Academic Hall (WT Amarillo Center)
• Thursday, Sept. 26—Brownbag Colloquium with Dr. Ray Matlack, "The Mammals of Palo Duro Canyon," 12:30-1:15 p.m., Classroom Center room 316 (WT Campus)
• Thursday, Oct. 24—Nall lecture, José Limón, “Streets of Laredo”:
  • 3-4 p.m. author Q&A (Cornette Library)
  • 7:30 p.m. “Streets of Laredo” lecture (JBK Legacy Hall)--cancelled due to weather; rescheduled for April 23, 2020
  • 8:45-9:30 p.m. dessert reception and book signing (JBK Legacy Hall)--cancelled due to weather
• Tuesday, Nov. 12—Brownbag Colloquium with Dr. Tim Bowman, 12:30-1:15 p.m., Classroom Center room 316 (WT Campus)
• Monday, Nov. 4—Brendan Rensink lecture, “Disrupting Western, Indigenous, and Borderlands Histories,” 7 p.m., (Hazlewood Room, PPHM)

• Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 3-4—CSAW’s “Red Dead University” at AMA-CON

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Spring 2019

• Saturday, May 4: CSAW guided hike of the CCC trail in Palo Duro Canyon. On this tour, CSAW interns Kylie and Monica discussed how Palo Duro Canyon State Park came to fruition, the life of camp enrollees, and the construction projects they took on, including the scenic Hamblen Drive and the Palo Duro School of Art.
• Thursday, Apr. 25: Brownbag Colloquium with Dr. Alex Hunt. CSAW Director Alex Hunt discussed George Hunt (1878-1942), a Kiowa man who worked with numerous anthropologists and historians as well as publishing his own scholarship. A key point of focus were the circumstances of the 1887 Sun Dance and how Hunt worked to save and make known this important history.
• Wednesday, Feb. 20: Brownbag Colloquium with Dr. Byron Pearson. For this discussion, Dr. Byron Pearson shared research from his upcoming book about Grand Canyon dam proposals in the 1960s and the controversies that surrounded those projects.  
• Thursday, Feb 28: Doug Ricketts Lecture, "Against the Grain: Journey of a Panhandle Furniture Maker." Ricketts discussed how grain elevators, baling wire, and rust have figured into a lifetime of art and furniture design. A sampling of his work was on display. For more on his work, visit: dougricketts.com
• Tuesday, March 5: “Red Dead University” exhibit opening, a collaboration between Center for the Study of the American West and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Opening remarks were given by Dr. Stefan ‘Steve’ Rabitsch, Fulbright visiting scholar in American Studies. Located in the PPHM Alexander Gallery, "Red Dead University" will encourage academic gameplay of the video game Red Dead Redemption II and showcase artifacts from the final days of the Wild West. The exhibit will be open to museum patrons throughout March 2020 (exhibit close TBD). 
• Tuesday, March 19: Dr. Deborah Liles, "Oliver Loving: Dean of the Trails."
• Thursday, March 28: "Red Dead Rouge" Panel Discussion. From Sacagawea to Frenchie McCormick, women have played an important role in the work, identity, and expansion of the American west. Center for the Study of the American West and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum collaborated on this panel discussion about women’s roles in the Old West, with emphasis on the portrayal of these roles in the video game Red Dead Redemption II. Panelists: Dr. Amy Von Lintel, Dr. Jean Stuntz, Dr. Alex Hunt, and Ms. AJ McCormick.
• Tuesday, April 9: Garry L. Nall lecture with Stephen Graham Jones: "Growing up Dead in Texas."

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Fall 2018

• Dec. 12 CSAW Intern Research Showcase: CSAW interns Patrick Diepen, Mariana Lowe, and Jose Jose Navarrete presented their special project research from the semester. The event included introductions by the students, viewings of their research videos, and a Q&A session (videos coming spring 2019). Featured:
  • Jose Jose Navarrete: “An Adventure Through the Texas Panhandle: The Gregg-Marcy Trail and the Wildcat Bluff Nature Center” This project focuses on the Gregg-Marcy Trail, also known as the Santa Fe to Fort Smith Trail, and how it made its way through the Texas Panhandle, including what is now known as the Wildcat Bluff Nature Center in Amarillo, Texas. This research features observations made by Josiah Gregg and Captain Randolph Marcy, as well as discussion of their motivation and experiences.
  • Patrick Diepen and Mariana Lowe: “Life While Working Brick by Brick: The Story of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Creation of Palo Duro Canyon State Park” This project sheds light on Palo Duro Canyon State Park’s construction by the CCC, focusing on the buildings, roads, and trails built between 1933 and 1937 as well as life for these men while working at the canyon.
• Nov. 7 Distinguished Lecture (CSAW co-sponsor)--Katharine Hayhoe: "Climate Change and West Texas: Facts, Fictions, and Faith." This program was made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.>

 

• Garry L. Nall lecture with David Wallace Adams, "Coming of Age on a Southwest Cultural Borderland: A New Mexico Story."
• Forgotten Frontera - Sept. 20 "Justice Then and New," Hispano History of the Texas Panhandle, community conversation.
  • ​ More info on this ongoing series. 
• ​CSAW Western Film Event - Aug. 22 & 23. This two-day event was our first collaboration with Amarillo College. Featured movies include John Ford's The Searchers (1956) and John Huston's The Unforgiven (1960). Sponsors for this event included AC Mass Media, WTAMU Cornette Library; English, Philosophy, and Modern Languages at West Texas A&M University, West Texas A&M University Department of History, and WTAMU Media Communication Program.

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Spring 2018

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Fall 2017

• November 16 - "Saving the Southern Plains Bison," lecture from Donald Beard, Superintendent of Caprock Canyons State Park.
• November 7 - Brown Bag Colloquium with Dr. Byron Pearson: "Deconstructing the Sphinx: the Revolutionary Environmentalism of Thomas Jefferson." 
• October 19 - Nall Lecture in Western Studies with Brian DeLay: "The Texas Gun Frontier and the Travails of Mexican History."
• October 12 - Brown Bag Colloquium: Brian Ingrassia "'Rendered Obsolete': Auto-Centric Amarillo and the Rise of High Plains Suburbia."
• September 27 - Hispanic Heritage Month: "Migrant Labor in the Panhandle: Mexicans and Mexican-Americans at the Hereford Migrant Labor Camp."
• September 19: Brown Bag Colloquium: Veronica Arias: "A Rare Find: Archaeological Investigations of the Calf Creek Horizon in the Texas Panhandle."

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Spring 2017

• April 20 - Brown Bag Colloquium with Dr. Tim Bowman: "Colonialism and Agriculture in the South Texas Borderlands." Click here to view the flyer.
• April 18 - Movie Night: Written on Water. Click here to view the flyer.
• April 13 - Nall Lecture in Western Studies with S. C. Gwynne: "On Offense: Writing West Texas from Comanche Wars to Tech Football."
• March 28 - Movie Night: A Line in the Sand. Click here to view the flyer.
• March 23: Brown Bag Colloquium: Michael Grauer: "Rounded up in Glory: Frank Reaugh, Texas Renaissance Man." Click here to view the flyer.

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Fall 2016

• December 8 - Brown Bag Colloquium with Dr. Amy Von Lintel: "Georgia O'Keeffe's American West." Click here to view the flyer.
• November 7 - Brown Bag Colloquium with Dr. Alex Hunt: "Our Indian Summer in the Far West: Republishing a Historical Book"
• October 27 - Nall Lecture in Western Studies with Patricia Limerick: "Both Stranger and Kin: Wrestling--Successfully!--with the Riddle of Texas's Place in the American West."