Lander University's special six-part lecture series, "The Politics of Democracy: A Political Symposium," continues next month with sessions exploring topics relevant to our current national political scene. The sessions are led by members of Lander's faculty as well as speakers from a variety of educational-, political- and business-related fields.
All sessions are held on Friday evenings on campus, from 6:30-7:30 p.m., and they are free and open to the public. Because of limited seating, tickets are required for each session and may be obtained by contacting Lander's Office of Continuing Education at 864-388-8426 or continuinged@lander.edu.
The series, which kicked off in February, continues March 9 with its third session, "Regional Growth, Urban Sprawl and the Politics of the Environment," presented by Brad Wyche, executive director with Upstate Forever, and Dr. Daniel Pardieck, Lander associate professor of environmental geology. This session will examine regional growth trends and land-use patterns, as well as the fiscal and quality-of-life impacts of uncontrolled growth. It will also explore how communities can promote growth while preserving, or even improving, environmental and economic prospects.
The fourth session in the series, "The Picture of Southern Politics," takes place March 16. Presented by Dr. Donald L. Fowler, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Clemson University's Dr. J. David Woodard, a republican political consultant, this session will give an overview of the politics of the American South today and the changes that have occurred since the 1960s. Fowler and Woodard, who both teach at the university level and have considerable experience working with the Democratic and Republican parties, will look at the evolution of political parties and other factors that make the South a distinctively unique region in American politics.
The final two sessions will take place in late March and will be: "Religion and Politics," with Charleston attorney Robert Barber, a member of Lander's Board of Trustees and former member of the S.C. House of Representatives, and Dr. Laura Olson, professor of political science at Clemson (March 23); and "Foreign Affairs and International Trade," with Lander's Dr. Alan Green, assistant professor of economics, and Dr. Lucas McMillan, assistant professor of political science (March 30).
The political symposium lecture series is being sponsored by the American Democracy Project and the Jackson Lectures Series Endowment Fund. For more information about each session, please visit www.lander.edu.