Pauley Symposium Sept. 21-22 to look at 'History in Digital Age'

Two keynote lectures and a luncheon talk by the former president of PBS and NBC News will highlight the Carroll R. Pauley Memorial Endowment Symposium Sept. 21-22 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Titled "History in the Digital Age," the symposium will also feature several leading scholars from the United States and Canada who will give talks examining how computerization has affected research and teaching in the humanities. All events are in the Nebraska Union, 1400 R St.

The first keynote address will open the symposium at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 when Edward L. Ayers, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, will present "Civil War and Emancipation: Visualizing American History."

The second keynote address, "The Future of the Humanities in the Digital Age," by Alan Liu, professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Sept 22. A roundtable discussion with opportunities for audience participation will follow Liu's talk and conclude the symposium. For the roundtable, Liu will joined by Ayers, Mary Beth Norton, Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History at Cornell University, and William Thomas, professor of history at UNL. Liu's lecture will be preceded by a dessert reception at 7 p.m.

Lawrence Grossman, who was president of PBS from 1976 to 1984 and NBC News from 1984 to 1988, will give a luncheon address at 12:30 p.m. Sept. 22. His talk, "Digital Promise Project -- Digital Opportunity Investment Trust," will discuss the Digital Promise Project. The project seeks to establish the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DO IT), to be funded by revenues from a portion of the Congressionally mandated auctions of publicly owned telecommunications spectrum or other federal sources. DO IT's goal is to transform America’s education, workplace training and lifelong learning through the development and use of the revolutionary advanced information technologies comparable to those that have already transformed the nation's economy, its communications system, media and people's daily lives.

Six other sessions are scheduled for Sept. 22:

8:30-9:20 a.m. -- "Creating the China Historical GIS," Peter Bol, Charles H. Carswell professor of East Asian languages and civilizations and director of the Center for Geographic Analysis at Harvard University.

9:30-10:20 a.m. -- "World History and the African Migration Simulation," Patrick Manning, Andrew W. Mellon professor of world history at the University of Pittsburgh.

10:30-11:20 a.m. -- "Railways, Uneven Geographic Development and a Crisis of Globalization in France and Britain, 1830-1914," Robert Schwartz, professor of history at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.

1:30-2:20 p.m. -- "Urban Web: Cities and Hypertexts," Janice L. Reiff, associate professor of history and statistics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

2:30-3:20 p.m. -- "History, Mystery and Virtual Victoria: Transforming Teaching and Research," John Lutz, professor of history at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

3:30-4:20 p.m. -- "Malcolm X: Cybertechnology and the Black Experience," Abdul Alkalimat, professor of sociology and director of the Africana Studies program at the University of Toledo.

Registration for the symposium is free and is required for all symposium events. The free registration includes the Sept. 22 lunch. For more information or to register, visit www.unl.edu/history/news_events/pauley/index.html.

The symposium is a program of the Carroll R. Pauley Endowment, the University of Nebraska Foundation and the UNL Department of History. Reiff's talk is cosponsored by the Plains Humanities Alliance at UNL.

Contacts: William Thomas, Professor, History, (402) 472-8318; or Douglas Seefeldt, Asst. Professor, History, (402) 472-3251