NOTED SCHOLARS TO DEFINE THE TRIUMPHS AND DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE CLINTON YEARS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Eminent scholars, historians, media experts, and writers from universities throughout the United States will gather at the University of Arkansas June 13-14 to discuss President Clinton's legacy during the conference "Vantage Points: Perspectives on the Clinton Presidency."

"This is the first interdisciplinary conference held on the Clinton years, which is perhaps why it has attracted such a well-known group of distinguished participants from around the country," said Todd Shields, director of the Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society in Fulbright College. The Blair Center and the Fulbright Institute of International Relations are hosting the conference.

The group will meet Thursday for a day of discussion and debate, based on position papers they have prepared for the conference. On Friday, June 14, they will offer a public forum beginning at 9 a.m. in Giffels Auditorium, moderated by former Senator David Pryor. Other leading political scientists, historians, and cultural studies experts around the country will send questions ahead of time, which Pryor will then pose to the panelists.

After the question and answer session, the forum will be opened to the audience and the media, for questions and continued discussion.

Conference participants include

• Ken Bode, former national political correspondent for NBC News and moderator of Washington Week in Review,
• David Brady, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and professor of political science and ethics at Stanford,
• Dan Carter, a celebrated historian who won an Emmy for his work on the documentary George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire",
• June Teufel Dryer, professor of political science at the University of Miami and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute,
• Betty Glad, the Olin Johnston Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and past president of the International Society for Political Psychology,
• Barry Hannah, the much acclaimed author of Airships and recipient of the Robert Penn Warren Lifetime Achievement Award in Fiction,
• Darlene Clark Hine, the John Hannah Distinguished Professor of History at Michigan State University and president of the Organization of American Historians,
• Randall Kenan, celebrated author of Walking on Water: Black American Lives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century and recipient of the American Academy's Prix de Rome award,
• Robert Legvold, professor of political science at Columbia University and a specialist in Soviet foreign policy,
• Randy Roberts, professor of history at Purdue University and winner of the Pat and Ray Browne National Book Award for John Wayne American,
• Dorothy McBride Stetson, professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University and author of several books on women and public policy, and
• Randall Woods, Fulbright College Dean and author of numerous articles and books on foreign policy and diplomatic history, including Fulbright: A Biography.

The Blair Center, which was established in December 2000 through a special $2.5 million appropriation from Congress, honors the legacy of Diane Blair, a widely admired and respected professor of political science at the University of Arkansas. The Center offers research and teaching in the areas Blair became noted for, particularly the politics of Arkansas and the South.

"I know Diane would be pleased that our first conference features such a diverse and distinguished group of scholars examining the presidency of Bill Clinton, a friend she worked hard to elect and then advised during his years in the White House," said Shields.

In addition to Senator Pryor, the public forum will feature opening remarks by Chancellor John White and James Blair. Proceedings of the conference will be published in a book later this year.

Note: Complete biographies of the speakers are available on request.

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Todd Shields, director of the Blair Center and chair, political science department, Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, (479)575-3356, tshield@uark.edu

Allison Hogge, Science and Research Writer, University Relations, (479)575-6731, alhogge@uark.edu