Following the Question: How I Ended Up at TCU
- Melissa
- Apr 10
- 4 min read
Following the Work: Curiosity, Access, and Unexpected Opportunity
It’s been a full stretch: exhibits, events, starting a Substack account, and a few unexpected (but happy) family meetups, so writing and research have been moving a little slower than usual.
That’s what makes this moment stand out: less than a month ago, TCU wasn’t even on my radar. I was just looking for information.
It started the way many good things do—by following a question. I’d been researching universities, professors, and programs connected to my research, sending a few (10 to be exact) emails and asking a few questions. One conversation led me to TCU, and before long, I was registering for a symposium three hours from home.
Now I’m on my way to the 2026 LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Symposium on War, Conflict, and Society (April 10–11), and it feels like exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Some might say, “How lucky are you?”Luck? Maybe a little.
But I still had to write the emails. I had to find the right people, push past the hesitation, and accept the possibility of no responses. I had to be willing to try anyway. Military life, in many ways, prepared me for that: learning how to take chances without guarantees.
There’s something to be said for that kind of momentum. The kind that doesn’t come from planning every step, but from staying curious enough to follow where the work and your gut lead. This wasn’t a strategic addition to my calendar. It was the result of paying attention, trusting myself, and taking a chance. And the timing feels right.
The symposium lineup reads like a conversation I’ve already been having in my own research, about how we frame war, where we place its boundaries, and who we include in its story. I’ve already gone down the rabbit hole of reading everyone’s bios and exploring their work, which only makes me more eager to hear it in person.
Part of me wishes I had known about this earlier and had more time to prepare. But another part knows this is exactly how opportunities begin. By taking chances, putting yourself out there, asking questions, sending the emails, and seeing where it leads.
Here's the Symposium lineup:
Feature Presentation
Sarah Botstein, award-winning filmmaker and co-director/producer of Florentine Films' The American Revolution
America's Revolution as a Civil War:
Dr. Liz Covart, creator and host of the award-winning podcast Ben Franklin's World
Dr. Lauren Duval, author of The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence (2025) (just started this one!)
Dr. Alan Taylor, author of American Civil Wars: A Continental History, 1850-1873 (2024)
Dr. Serena Zabin, author of The Boston Massacre: A Family History (2020)
Citizen Soldiers:
Dr. Douglas R. Egerton, author of A Man on Fire: The Worlds of Thomas Wentworth Higginson (2024)
Dr. Lorri Glover, author of Eliza Lucas Pinckney: An Independent Woman in the Age of Revolution (2020)
Dr. Ricardo A. Herrera, author of Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 (2022)
Dr. Woody Holton, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution (2021) (another one I just started)
America's Revolution as a Global War:
Dr. Richard Bell, author of The American Revolution and the Fate of the World (2025)
Dr. Christopher Leslie Brown, author of Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism (2006)
Dr. Iris de Rode, currently writing En Route to Revolution
Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson, author of Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy during the American Revolution (2025)
These quick snapshots only scratch the surface of the presenter's work. If you'd like to explore their full bios and research in more depth, you can find them here:
Lance Corporal Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt
The symposium is named in memory of Lance Corporal Benjamin Whetstone Schmidt and supported by his parents, Dr. David and Teresa Schmidt.
A San Antonio native, Benjamin began at TCU in 2006 before leaving to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served as a scout sniper with deployments at sea and in Afghanistan. Planning to return to TCU to finish a history degree and pursue a PhD, he instead volunteered for another deployment when his unit needed experienced leadership. He was killed on October 6, 2011, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in a friendly fire incident. In his memory, his family established a professorship at TCU and continues to support this symposium, reflecting his deep commitment to the study of war and its broader impact. For his full story, read more here:https://addran.tcu.edu/history/student-experience/schmidt-endowment-campaign.php
I’m heading in with a curious mind, a growing stack of books, and a notebook in hand.
More than anything, I’m interested in what happens in the spaces between these talks, the questions that carry across panels, the connections that aren’t always stated outright, and where the home front quietly appears… or doesn’t.
I’ll share what stands out once I’ve had time to sit with it.
—Mel
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