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RELEASED: Oct. 7, 2004
DANVILLE, KY—In what many say is the most important election in a generation, the political importance of the 2004 presidential and vice presidential debates looms large.
Noted political scholar Michael Nelson, professor of political science at Rhodes College, will give the 2004 Centre College Roy Ray Lecture on Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Young Hall room 101.
"The Politics of Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates" will provide a non-partisan perspective on the inner workings of the debates.
William C. Garriott Jr., professor of government at Centre, says, "We're always happy to have a scholar of Michael Nelson's stature on campus, but we're especially lucky to have him here to talk about presidential and vice presidential debates in the middle of the debate season. The fact that Centre hosted the vice presidential debate in
2000 makes his lecture topic even more appropriate."
Nelson has published 20 books on the presidency, elections, bureaucracy, public policy and higher education. He's working on The Elections of 2004, which is scheduled for publication in 2005.
Nelson has written nearly 200 articles on a wide range of political, religious, literary and cultural topics for scholarly journals and other periodicals. Two of his books have won the Benjamin Franklin Award, one in the category of history, politics and philosophy and the other in the reference book category.
In addition to his articles on political topics, Nelson has written articles about Charles Dickens, Frank Sinatra, Garrison Keillor, C.S. Lewis, Jonathan Edwards, Stephen L. Carter, Ward Just, The Iliad, liberal education, baseball and music. He's a former writer-editor of the Washington Monthly.
The Centre College Roy Ray Lectureship was established in 1981 by a gift from the late Dr. Roy Ray, who graduated from Centre in 1924 and was a member of the faculty at the Southern Methodist University School of Law from 1929 until his retirement in 1970. The lectureship brings noted scholars in the fields of political science and law to the campus for a public lecture and meetings with students and faculty.
For more on the 2000 vice presidential debate at Centre, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/news/presdebate/debatereview.html.
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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/
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