Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar to Lecture Oct. 7

Dr. Merle Black, the Candler Professor of Politics and Government at Emory University, will discuss "The Republican Surge in the South and Partisan Control of Congress" at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, in Bennett Auditorium on the Baylor University campus. Black's lecture is sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa's Visiting Scholars program and is free and open to the public.
In his lecture, Black will discuss how Republican control of the United States House of Representatives and Senate has been influenced by that party's gains in the South. Black also will speak on the emergence of southern Republican leaders such as Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey and Trent Lott.
A professor at Emory since 1989, Black received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his master's degree and doctorate from the University of Chicago. Prior to his appointment at Emory, he served as professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the co-author of The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected and Politics and Society in the South.
In addition to his lecture, Black will address several classes in political science and history during his two-day stay at Baylor.
Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest scholastic honor society and the first American society to have a Greek-letter name. The first chapter was founded on Dec. 5, 1776, at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The Baylor University chapter (Zeta of Texas) of Phi Beta Kappa was chartered in 1976 and is one of only eight chapters in the state. It has hosted visiting scholars to the university since 1980 in such diverse disciplines as physics, English, history, biology, anthropology and religion.
For more information, contact Dr. Phillip Johnson, professor of Spanish, at 710-6003.