Release date: Feb. 15, 2001
Contact: Nancy Seideman, Director, 404-727-0640, or nseidem@emory.edu

Role of the Public Intellectual Debated In March 24 Conference

WHO:	Michael Bellesiles, professor of history at Emory University; David Cannadine, director of the Institute for Historical Research in London; Johnnetta B. Cole, Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory; Alice Kessler-Harris, professor of history at Columbia University; and Peter Novick, professor of history emeritus at University of Chicago
WHAT:	"The Public Intellectual: Scholars and Politics in America in the New Millennium," a conference presented by the Atlanta Seminar in the Comparative History of Labor, Industry, Technology and Society
WHEN:	Saturday, March 24, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
WHERE:	Atlanta History Center, 130 W. Paces Ferry Rd. NW, Atlanta
COST:	Free and open to the public. For more information, call 404-894-6848

American intellectuals once played an active and visible role in shaping politics and public dialogue. But aside from occasional presidential retreats with selected pundits, today's American academics appear to have far less influence on public policy, especially in comparison with their European counterparts. "The Public Intellectual: Scholars and Politics in America in the New Millennium" conference will address what accounts for this disparity, and what can and should be done about it.

During the conference, the following prominent scholars will discuss the problems and possibilities of being a public intellectual:

o	Michael Bellesiles, professor of history at Emory University, author of "Revolutionary Outlaws: Ethan Allen and the Struggle for Independence of the Early American Frontier" (1993) and "Arming America: the Origins of a National Gun Culture" (2000);
o	David Cannadine, director of the Institute for Historical Research in London, author of "The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy" (1990) and "The Rise and Fall of Class in Britain" (1999);
o	Johnnetta B. Cole, Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory and president emerita of Spelman College, author of "Conversations: Straight Talk with America's Sister President" (1990) and "Dream the Boldest Dreams: And Other Lessons of Life" (1997);
o	Alice Kessler-Harris, professor of history at Columbia University; author of "Out to Work: A History of America's Wage-Earning Women in the United States" (1982) and "A Woman's Wage: Historical Meanings and Social Consequences" (1990); and
o	Peter Novick, professor of history emeritus at University of Chicago, author of "That Noble Dream: The 'Objectivity Question' and the American Historical Profession" (1988) and "The Holocaust in American Life" (1999).

The Atlanta Seminar in the Comparative History of Labor, Industry, Technology and Society (SCHLITS) is a collaborative scholarly community that brings together faculty and graduate students of Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University, along with other local colleges and universities. Founded a decade ago and funded by the three principle institutions, SCHLITS offers a biannual graduate seminar, a series of roundtable discussions during which visiting and local scholars present their current research, and a visiting fellow program that brings distinguished speakers to Atlanta for a forum or series of talks.

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