Graham Peck will be formally invested as the Wepner Distinguished Professor of Lincoln Studies at the University of Illinois Springfield on Thursday at 2 p.m.
The ceremony, which can be viewed on Zoom, was originally scheduled for March 19.
During the ceremony, Peck will receive a medallion that symbolizes his position as a distinguished professor. He will be entitled to wear the medallion at special university ceremonies, like commencement.
Peck will present a lecture, “Abraham Lincoln and the Making of an Antislavery Nation,” at the ceremony.
Peck is the author of the 2017 book “Making an Antislavery Nation: Lincoln, Douglas and the Battle Over Freedom” (University of Illinois Press). His scholarship focuses on antebellum American political history, and particularly on Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and the origins of the Civil War.
A ceremony of investiture is held when an endowed chair or distinguished professor is installed. The ceremony, modeled after knighthood ceremonies, began in early English universities.
There are five other Distinguished Chairs and Professorships at UIS, including Michael Burlingame, the Naomi B. Lynn Distinguished Chair in Lincoln Studies. A renowned scholar, Burlingame has published a dozen books on the life and times of Lincoln, including the award-winning two-volume biography, “Abraham Lincoln: A Life.”
This story appeared in The State Journal-Register on September 19, 2020..
