Mershon Center for International Security Studies

A recently published article in The New Yorker by Ruth Marcus discussed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ views against Progressivism and Progressives. Christopher McKnight Nichols, Mershon Center Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and Arts and Sciences at Ohio State Professor of History, was quoted in the story. An excerpt from the article is below.

Christopher Nichols, a historian of the Progressive Era at the Ohio State University, said of Thomas’s account, “It’s a deeply problematic reduction of Progressivism to its most negative elements,” including racism and support for eugenics. Thomas’s speech, Nichols continued, “absolutely mistakes and conflates figures like Stalin and Hi**er and Mussolini as Progressives, none of whom would have defined themselves as such, or were defined in their eras as such.

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Clarence Thomas’s Distorted View of Progressivism In 1991, during his confirmation hearings, Clarence Thomas assured senators that he would be an impartial jurist. In a recent speech, the Justice made clear that he views Progressivism, past and present, as anti-American.

Congratulations to Lydia Walker, Assistant Professor, Myers Chair in Global Military History, and Mershon Center affiliate, on being selected as one of five finalists in the History category for the 2026 American Council of Learned-Societies (ACLS) Open Access Book Prize and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award. Eligible historical works include examinations of all eras, geographical regions, peoples, and/or cultural developments through any theoretical lens.

Supported by Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin's Arcadia Fund, these prizes recognize and reward the authors and publishers of exceptional, innovative, and open humanities and social science books published from 2019 to 2024.

Join us May 29-30 for "Rethinking American Grand Strategy," a conference that brings together exceptional scholars and thinkers, eminent figures, and rising stars to rethink the past and present of American grand strategy. In a series of innovative talks and original presentations the panelists seek to construct a rich account of how grand strategy has expanded and continues to operate in the U.S. role in the world in the twenty-first century. Free and open to all, breakfast and lunch provided, registration requested.

Rethinking American Grand Strategy | Mershon Center for International Security Studies Co-OrganizersChristopher McKnight Nichols - Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and Professor of History, The Ohio State University Andrew Preston - W.L. Lyons Brown Jr.

Today the Mershon Center at Arts and Sciences at Ohio State was honored to welcome Danish Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen. Thank you for sharing your expertise and insights with our affiliates.

Congrats to Yiğit Akin, Associate Professor of History and Mershon affiliate, on receiving a 2026 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, one of the university’s most prestigious teaching awards.

2026 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching recipients announced | Office of Faculty Affairs Ten faculty members were recently notified of their 2026 awards through surprise announcements led by senior university leaders.

Mershon Center is pleased to announce our Spring 2026 grant recipients. Congrats to all! See the recipients and projects.

Mershon Center Spring 2026 Grant Recipients The Mershon Center for International Security Studies is pleased to announce the recipients of awards from the Spring 2026 grant cycle. Faculty AwardsSix faculty members from six departments are pursuing research projects that impact people and policy across the world. For the first time in the Mers...

Congrats to Alexis Zickafoose, Mershon Center affiliate, on successfully defending her dissertation: Sowing Success: How Women’s Agripreneurship Cultivates Empowerment and Enterprise. Read about Dr. Zickafoose's research

Agribusiness and Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh Fresh vegetables. Food processors. Specialized dairy startups. These businesses are all examples of the agripreneurship that is enhancing rural livelihoods and food security. Alexis Zickafoose, Ph.D. candidate in Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership, recently traveled to Bangladesh,...

Peter Mansoor, Mershon Center Mason Chair, on News Nation talking about the Strait of Hormuz and the war in Iran. https://youtu.be/c9m_hIPtXXI?si=BsgDBHbcnH_6JpFZ via

Peter Mansoor on News Nation April 9, 2026 Peter Mansoor, Mershon Center Major General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair of Military History, spoke to News Nation about the Strait of Hormuz and the war with ...

Nicholas Nyachega, Mershon Center Postdoc, is one of the editors of an upcoming book on livestock mobility, borders and security in Southern Africa. Livestock has long occupied a central place in the social, cultural, political, and economic life of Southern Africa. Across communities in Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Namibia, livestock, including cattle, goats, and sheep, signify wealth, identity, authority, and social reproduction. Across time and space, livestock has remained deeply entangled with questions of power, mobility, livelihoods, and security, shaping precolonial cattle raiding and territorial conflict, colonial livestock regulation and veterinary regimes, and contemporary forms of livestock mobility, cross-border crimes, diseases and pastoral conflict amid significant climate change. In recent decades, Southern Africa has witnessed an intensification of cross-border livestock mobility and livestock rustling shaped by commercialization and poverty leading to organized crime syndicates across porous borders.

Scholars interested in writing a chapter for the book can submit abstracts through May 30@. Details at

Call for Book Chapters: Livestock Mobility, Borders, and (In)security in Southern Africa | Mershon Center for International Security Studies Call for Book ChaptersProposed Title: Livestock Mobility, Borders, and (In)security in Southern Africa Editors:Nicholas Nyachega – The Ohio State UniversityPhuthego Phuthego Molosiwa – University of the Free StateSibanengi Ncube – University of Cambridge; Walter Sisulu University

Dakota Rudesill, Mershon Center affiliate and professor of law, talked to WOSU Public Media All Sides with Amy Juravich about the reactions of the American public, lawyers, and lawmakers to the US-Iran war.

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Congratulations to Dorothy Noyes, Mershon Center director and Arts and Sciences at Ohio State Distinguished Professor of English and Professor of Comparative Studies, on receiving a Distinguished Alumni Scholar Award from IU College of Arts and Sciences and IU Folklore & Ethnomusicology! Read the full story https://mershoncenter.osu.edu/dorothy-noyes-honored-indiana-university