A&M International's Thompson Panelist on KLRN Thursday

Texas A&M International University's Dr. Jerry Thompson, Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, will serve on a live panel discussing the recent television documentary "The US-Mexican War" Thursday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. on KLRN-TV, Channel 11.

Select San Antonio area panelists will be joined by panelists from Dallas' KERA-TV in an interconnected broadcast that will see participants discuss and debate issues raised by the broadcast earlier this week of the two-part series.

In addition to Dr. Thompson, other panelists have been selected from St. Mary's University , the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Centro Cultural Aztlan.

A&M International recently hosted a well-attended special preview at the University of the acclaimed documentary prior to its national broadcast.

Dr. Thompson said the new documentary is a groundbreaking series that addresses a war that transformed two nations and one border forever.

"This new four-hour series is a profound and thoughtful study of the way the people of two neighboring countries access, process, agree and disagree in the search for truth. Although the U.S.-Mexican War only lasted 782 days, its outcome transformed the boundaries of our neighboring countries, dramatically shifted the balance of world powers and shaped the destinies of each nation. We see profound changes from this event even today," he explained.

The live broadcast on Thursday will be rebroadcast in a taped version on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m.

Of added interest, a special bilingual (English-Spanish) Internet WWW site affording visitors an interactive chronicle of the U.S.-Mexican War is located at www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar

For additional information, please contact the University's Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at 326. 2180.

University office hours are from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu