Scopes 'Monkey Trial' Focus of Last A.R. Sanchez Lecture April 2

A famous court case that erupted in 1925 over the question of teaching evolution in the classroom will be discussed during the sixth and last lecture of the 2000-2001 A.R. Sanchez Distinguished Lecture Series Monday, April 2 at 7 p.m. in the Great Room of Texas A&M International University's Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library (319).

In his lecture, titled, "The Scopes Trial: Science, Religion, and American Politics," Dr. Michael Lienesch, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will discuss The Scopes 'Monkey Trial,' which served as a defining moment in American political thought, science and religion.

Dr. Lienesch received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, his M.A. from UC-Berkeley and his B.A. from the University of Illinois, Urbana.

He has won fellowships from the Earhart Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center, where he was a Lily Fellow in 1998-99.

In recognition of his teaching excellence, he has won the Tanner Award for Excellence in Teaching and has been named Bowman and Gordon Gray Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

He is the author of New Order of the Ages (1988), a study of ideas of time in American constitutional thought; Ratifying the Constitution (1989), an edited work on the politics of the ratification period; and Redeeming America (1993), a book on the political thought of contemporary Christian conservatives. He is presently at work on a book on the American religious right of the 1920s, a study of early fundamentalism, the anti-evolution movement and the Scopes 'Monkey Trial.'

He has served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Political Science and the Journal of Politics, is active in the American Political Science Association and is past president of the North Carolina Political Science Association.

Next in the series is Dr. John Silber, Chancellor of Boston University. Dr. Silber's presentation, "Cowboys, Oil Tycoons, and Buffalo Chips: An Exploration of Texas Character," will take place Wednesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library Great Room.

For further information, please call the College of Arts and Humanities at 326-2460. University office hours are 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through 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