Pulitzer Prize-winning author to deliver address at PC Symposium

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PROVIDENCE — Noted historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin will kick off the Providence College Liberal Arts Honors Symposium, to be held this weekend, October 21 and 22 at the College. Goodwin, who authored such bestsellers as Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, Wait Till Next Year, and Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, will give the opening address, “The Presence of the Greatness of the Past” on Friday, October 21, at 7 p.m. at ’64 Hall, located in PC’s Slavin Center.

The Symposium features two panel discussions, which will be held in the Ruane Center for the Humanities in Room 105 on Saturday, Oct. 22. The first, at 9:30 a.m., is “Truth in Contemporary Media.” The moderator will be Kelly Malone ’86, a member of the English faculty at Sewanee: The University of the South. She will be joined by author and Providence College alum Roy Peter Clark ’70, one of the trustees of The Poynter Institute, a teaching center for journalists located in Florida.Also participating are Charles Sennott ’03 Hon., founder and executive director of the Ground Truth Project; and Eric Bennett, associate professor of English at Providence College.

A second panel discussion titled “Truth in Philosophy, Science and Religion” follows at 1:00 p.m. It will be moderated by Colin King, assistant professor of Philosophy at Providence College. Panelists include Meghan Sullivan, Rev. John A. O’Brien Collegiate and associate professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame,; and Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., associate professor of Biology and Theology at Providence College.

The final guest for the day is Andrew Delbanco, the featured speaker. He is the Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies at Columbia University, and the author of Melville: His World and Work (2005), which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography. Delbanco will present the keynote address, “The Liberal Arts: Past, Present, and Future” on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. in ’64 Hall.

This symposium is presented by the Liberal Arts Honors Program at Providence College. The Dories Kearns Goodwin lecture is free and open to the public, although advance registration is required. Tickets for the Saturday symposium are $50.00, and include lunch. To register, please go to honors@providence.edu. Attendees should enter the College via the main gate at the corner of River Ave. and Eaton St. From there they will be directed where to park.