The TR Symposium is Ready for Action: Behind-the-Scenes with the TR Co-Directors
- lorihauf1
- 32 minutes ago
- 4 min read
As the annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium approaches, co-directors Dr. Michael Cullinane and Erik Johnson are busy coordinating programs, reserving locations, scheduling speakers, and launching a brand-new exhibit at the Theodore Roosevelt Center (TR) to coincide with the symposium theme, TR and the Navy. This behind-the-scenes gives a peek into what makes the TR’s annual symposium such a success.
Each fall, speakers, authors, scholars, students, members of the Theodore Roosevelt Association (TRA), and other TR enthusiasts gather at Dickinson State University (DSU) to participate in the symposium. “The first one I attended as a speaker is unforgettable. It was 2013…I had never been to North Dakota before,” says Dr. Cullinane. Just under a decade later, Dr. Cullinane is now the co-director of the TR, the endowed chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies, and a professor of history at DSU. Erik Johnson is not letting the added responsibility of co-director get in the way of what he views as the most rewarding part of the entire event: holding the doors for the guests, because “it’s nice being able to greet everyone with a smile.” For the last few years, that has included his parents, who often travel from Washington to attend.
Planning begins almost immediately after the closing reception of the previous TR Symposium, with the TR team using the excitement of a successful event to fuel their brainstorming sessions. Six months from the TR Symposium, usually January-March, the “mega-planning checklist” guides the planning momentum and reminds the team of what needs to get done, and when. This checklist proves particularly useful when the team encounters challenges, such as guest speakers with scheduling conflicts, last-minute location changes, or unexpected weather during the annual Medora field trip. “You name it, it can happen,” says Dr. Cullinane.
The theme of the TR Symposium is often a link between “issues of great importance to Theodore Roosevelt (TR)” with relevance to modern events, according to Dr. Cullinane. This year, the U.S. Navy celebrates its 250th birthday, and the TR received a collection of Great White Fleet-era postcards, so the team couldn’t pass up a perfect opportunity to explore the connection between TR and the Navy.
Once the theme is selected, the hunt for speakers begins, usually a combination of TR scholars, accomplished friends of the TR, and experts on the chosen topic. This year, several former and serving commanding officers of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, and their spouses will participate in symposium panels. The symposium balances education and entertainment this year with a Friday evening music session that includes Tom Brosseau, host of the Great American Folk Show on Prairie Public, a barbershop chorus, and more.
The TR staff leads the planning and execution, but the entire DSU campus plays a part in the symposium’s success. From the IT Department that keeps the digital library running and the guests supplied with a steady internet connection, the Marketing and Communications staff that help get the word out every year, and the DSU facilities staff that prepare the campus for each event and the influx of visitors, you can’t walk through campus without meeting someone willing to lend a hand.
Those helping hands often include the members of the Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program (TRHLP). These students help register symposium participants, serve meals, and guide visitors to various locations on campus. In previous years, the TRHLP students would introduce the guest speakers and panel participants but this year the TR is incorporating student work into the design of the new TR and the Navy exhibit. Opening on the final day of the symposium, Saturday, September 27th, the exhibit will showcase archival materials, reproductions, and informational panels.
The last day of the TR Symposium is all about the field trip to Medora, where this year's guests will tour the site of the upcoming Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. The trip is also the best time for guests to “get a taste of the Badlands and North Dakota to understand what brought TR out here to hunt, ranch, and live,” notes Erik. After the closing reception, the final portion of the symposium is a participant survey to aid the TR in improving the experience each year. Dr. Cullinane hopes that each year attendees gain a “better sense of what [the TR is] accomplishing in western North Dakota”, and Erik hopes that each attendee learns something new, as “TR is such a lively character, and the time he lived in is still so relevant and echoes so strongly in the present day, it’s always fascinating to hear more about him and his impact.”
Written by Sarah Griffis: DSU HF Content Writer
About the Theodore Roosevelt Symposium
The annual Theodore Roosevelt Symposium is a three-day event focused on exploring Theodore Roosevelt’s influence on various topics. This year’s theme is TR and the Navy, which will explore TR’s passion for the Navy, his role in building the Navy, and his influence on the US Navy today. Registration for the event can be found on the Theodore Roosevelt Center website, along with an overview of the theme, event schedule, and speaker bios.
About the Theodore Roosevelt Center
The Theodore Roosevelt Center (TR) is a museum, archive, library, and team dedicated to preserving and sharing the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt (TR), the 26th president. The TR was officially established in September 2007, and the digitization of documents began in 2008. The TR digital library is an open resource of letters, speeches, film and audio recordings, news articles, photographs, diary entries, and more by and about Roosevelt. By 2011, 50,000 documents had been published, and as of April 2025, the TR had cataloged 110,611 items into its digital library. The TR is currently located in Lowman Walton Hall at DSU. Visitors are invited to tour the exhibit Theodore Roosevelt: A Life in Letters, the Stankard Research Library, and the Roosevelt Reading Room.