The Annual Milton Plesur Graduate Conference is a forum for graduate students to share their scholarship with their colleagues, faculty, and interested members of the public. Traditionally, the Plesur Conference has been limited to graduate students housed in the History Department. However, we feel that historical scholarship can only be enriched by the shared contributions and cross-departmental conversations with our colleagues throughout the humanities and social sciences. The process of knowledge production can often be isolating and relegate us to particular silos, in which we are limited to our home departments. We see a greater need for colleagues across the hall to come together and use our skills and insights to expand the possibilities of our fields and to ultimately shape the future of academics for the better. 

“Breaking the Silo” is the intentional effort to keep in conversation with one another and use our combined intellectual and methodological strengths as graduate scholars in the humanities and social sciences to celebrate the work of our fellow graduate students. We seek submissions which consider the problems of the past, present, and future through an interdisciplinary framework. Our definition of “interdisciplinary” is broad and inclusive: we seek scholars who use multiple methods of research, analysis, application, and/or original ideas. “Interdisciplinary” scholarship is inherently collaborative and group-oriented, so we adamantly encourage scholars who may consider themselves “disciplinary” or “traditional” to submit their work. Panelists will be selected based on the themes that emerge through the submissions review process, with the intention of ensuring that as many disciplines as possible are represented by the panel’s subtheme. The goal of the cross-departmental conference is to break out of our disciplinary silos: we want to platform graduate scholars who not only employ interdisciplinary methods and theoretical frameworks but also see their work as part of a larger conversation shared across several disciplines. 

The conference will take place on March 27-28, 2026. The keynote will speak on the 27th, and graduate student panelists will present on the 28th. 

To submit your proposal for consideration, please complete the form and submit a 250-500 word abstract describing your paper or presentation idea. Submissions are due January 21st, 2026.