Lecture Series Focuses on Presidential Politics

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas law professor Stephen Sheppard kicks off a new lecture series that focuses on presidential politics with a talk Sept. 26 in Fayetteville. Jay Barth, professor of politics at Hendrix College in Conway, and John Brummett, columnist with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, follow with lectures in October.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Arkansas is sponsoring the Nights of Distinction Series with lectures scheduled at the Global Campus in downtown Fayetteville. Barth will speak Oct. 10, and Brummett will speak Oct. 24. The cost to attend all three lectures is $85, with a $29 charge to attend any one lecture. The lectures are open to both institute members and non-members. Students will be admitted to each lecture for $5.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney faces President Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, in the presidential contest Nov. 6.

Sheppard, the William H. Enfield Distinguished Professor of Law, titled his lecture, “What Does it Mean to Elect a President?” It will examine the meaning of U.S. president as a constitutional officer, a political figure, a national leader, a pawn of bureaucracy and both a champion and threat to personal liberty.

Sheppard teaches international and environmental law, constitutional law, legal history, and jurisprudence, property, remedies and other common law courses. He holds degrees from Columbia University and the University of Southern Mississippi.

Barth, the M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of Politics at Hendrix, will speak about “Advertising in American Presidential Campaigns: Past, Present and Future.” According to Barth, paid media became a major force in presidential campaigns in the United States once a broad electorate began to select the president.

His lecture will describe the history of paid advertising before focusing on the nature of paid media in all its forms in the 2012 election. Barth says voters’ control over how and from whom they receive campaign messages will continue to grow.

Barth teaches courses on American political parties and elections, constitutional law, political thought and Arkansas politics. He holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and from Hendrix College.

Brummett’s career in news began when he was in high school as a part-time reporter for the Arkansas Democrat. He moved to the Arkansas Gazette in 1977. He wrote a political column for the Gazette from 1986 to 1990. He was an editor for Arkansas Times from 1990 to 1992. In 1994, his book, High Wire: From the Back Roads to the Beltway, the Education of Bill Clinton, was published by Hyperion of New York. He became a columnist with the Democrat-Gazette in 1994. In 2000, he signed a deal with Donrey Media Group, now known as Stephens Media, and wrote for them for 11 years. He rejoined the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as a columnist on Oct. 24, 2011.

All three lectures begin at 6 p.m. and will last two hours. For more information, visit the website of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

The institute provides non-credit courses and programs for people age 50 years and older who find joy in pursuing their intellectual interests and in building friendships and social networks. The courses are taught at the University of Arkansas Global Campus and other locations around Northwest Arkansas by current and retired university faculty and community experts. The program is the only Osher Institute in Arkansas, and it is one of nearly 120 institutes established at colleges and universities nationwide by the Osher Foundation since 2002.