Center for the Study of War Experience

Who We Are

The Center for the Study of War Experience is primarily committed to providing a space for individuals to share their stories of war. Since its founding in 2004, the Center has been dedicated to gathering and preserving a wide range of voices and to fostering dialogue and reflection regarding the nuances and complexities of war experience. With the multiplicity of individual narratives from differing perspectives, the Center contributes to a broader analysis and understanding of the political, social, economic and cultural costs of war.

Anchored in Jesuit values, the Center is committed to the theories and practices of oral history and its potential to be a transformative process for the interviewee, interviewer and those who listen to and engage with the individual narratives. With this cornerstone, the Center offers students, researchers and members of the public the opportunity to listen deeply and reflect upon the experiences of others–particularly those who have been underrepresented or marginalized–and therefore collectively bear witness to war and how it affects lives in a multitude of ways.

While the Center’s oral history program began in the 1990s with an urgent focus on recording the stories of aging World War II veterans, we have since expanded the scope of our collection, undergraduate courses and public programming to include civilians, anti-war protestors, refugees and those employed in wartime labor. Most recently, the Center has focused on the experiences of women, Hispanic Vietnam War veterans and African American experiences of war. We are also initiating a new two-year thematic approach to programming with a focus on war from the lens of refugee experiences and cross-campus collaboration.

2023 Stories from Wartime

Stories from Wartime, facilitated by the Center for the Study of War Experience Faculty Director and staff, is a “Search for Meaning” Integrative Core Seminar at Regis University. The undergraduate course is a multidisciplinary inquiry into the human experience of war and conflict. As students hear, read and see these stories from wartime, we ask what it means to bear witness to historic and modern warfare; how we bear witness to this history collectively and where and how one finds meaning through such witness.

For 28 years, Stories from Wartime has featured nationally known speakers, guest lectures and local perspectives. Community members are invited to attend select classes of the seminar throughout the semester. This year’s series is focused on the history and perspectives of the Vietnam War. The sessions are free and open to the public and may be attended in person or virtually.

Dates:

Sept. 27 - In Camps: The Journeys of Vietnamese Refugees with Historian Jana Lipman - On Zoom
Oct. 4 - Local Perspectives: Vietnamese Refugees in Denver - On Zoom
Oct. 18 - Keynote Speaker: "To be gorgeous, you must first be seen...": Refugee Stories with Author Ocean Vuong* (More information below)
Oct. 25 - Resisting War: The Anti-Vietnam War Movement - On Zoom
Nov. 1 - Living with the Legacy of War: Conversations with Vietnam Veterans - On Zoom
Nov. 8 - Gendered Experiences: American Women in the Vietnam War
Nov. 29 - From Vietnam to the Wars on Terror: A Conversation with Veterans of America’s Longest Wars - On Zoom

Location: St. Peter Claver, S.J., Hall 315 OR on Zoom as noted
*St. John Francis Regis Chapel

Time: 6-8 p.m.

Registration: Register for each session on Eventbrite

Livestream: If you cannot attend the sessions on campus, we are live-streaming the sessions. Here is the link to the livestream.

Parking: Lower Lot 4

Due to its popularity and rich range of guest speakers and topics, Stories from Wartime has been videotaped since the late 1990s. If you are interested in viewing the recorded sessions, please contact us at cswe@regis.edu.

Keynote speaker, Ocean Vuong, joins Regis on Oct. 18

The Center for the Study of War Experience will co-host renowned poet, essayist and novelist Ocean Vuong. Thanks to multiple cross-campus and community co-sponsors, Vuong will be a featured guest speaker in our 2023 Stories from Wartime series. The event will focus on Vuong’s award-winning book, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, which poignantly addresses his Vietnamese-American identity.

See Event Details

Faculty Fellowships

Beginning in 2021, the Center for the Study of War Experience will offer a Faculty Research Fellowship to support the research and scholarship pursuits of Regis University faculty. The fellowship offers 1- to 2-year funding opportunities.

We are proud to announce that Dr. Mausumi Mahapatro is the Center’s inaugural fellow. "As a fellow at the Center for the Study of War Experience, she has engaged in fieldwork in Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp located in the southeastern belt of Bangladesh bordering Myanmar. She is particularly interested in how statelessness serves as an equalizer and the extent to which class differences in wealth are reproduced in fluid refugee contexts."

Graduate Assistantships

Each year, the Center offers a graduate assistantship to a former Regis University student who is interested in pursuing museum studies, collection or cultural resource management, and/or public history. The graduate assistant gains valuable experience by working with the Center’s archival collection, assisting with research requests, and learning the best practices of oral history collection management.

The Center’s current graduate assistant is Margaret Gentry. Margaret graduated from Regis University in May 2020 with BAs in English, History, and Linguistics. She is now pursuing her MA in Public History with a concentration in Cultural Resource Management at Colorado State University.

A student takes notes while reading from a book

Student Internships and Work Studies

Every semester, 2-3 undergraduate students work in the Center for the Study of War Experience and gain practical experience in administrative duties associated with a small archival collection. Students are able to help with a variety of projects and initiatives based on their own academic interests.

The Center also offers semester- or year long internships that are determined by the student’s research and career ambitions. The internships provide valuable opportunities in oral history, public history, archival management, and war-related research.

If you are a Regis University student and you are interested in a work study position or internship with the Center for the Study of War Experience, please contact us at cswe@regis.edu.

Contact the Center

Oral History and Archival Collection

With over 900 hours of recorded interviews and an extensive archive of artifacts, documents, and photos from the interviewees, the Center provides ample opportunities for students and researchers to engage with primary sources. The multiple and nuanced narratives allow students to explore how stories of conflict are told, how individual and collective memories influence and shape those narratives, how war experiences are translated to the public, and how they inform larger conversations about war in society.

Many of our interviews can be accessed in this digital repository hosted by the Regis University Library.

Explore the Collection