Feminist Press Co-Founder Lauter to Speak at ISU

Date: 11/29/06
Contact: Kathy Beal

Illinois State University will host Paul Lauter, professor, co-founder of The Feminist Press, author and former president of the American Studies Association, on Thursday, Dec. 7, in 101 Stevenson Hall. Lauter's 7:30 p.m. presentation, "Multiculturalism and Immigration Shock" is free and open to the public. There will be a reception after the presentation, which is also open to the public.

Lauter is the Allan K. and Gwendolyn Miles Smith Professor of Literature at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He serves as the general editor of the groundbreaking "Heath Anthology of American Literature." A former peace education secretary and director of Peace Studies for the American Friends Service Committee, Lauter worked in freedom schools in Mississippi in the 1960s and then for Roosevelt University's Upward Bound program. He was the director of the first community school project in the nation at Adams-Morgan in Washington, D.C., and was active in the faculty and staff union at the State University of New York.

Lauter, who received his Ph.D. at Yale University, is the author of "From Walden Pond to Jurassic Park: Culture, Activism, American Studies" and "Literature, Class, and Culture: An Anthology." He is currently working on two books, "The Sixties Now" about the social and political movements of the 1960s and 1770s, and "Literary Losers" about the rise and fall of literary reputations. Lauter has organized a new anthology of American literature for students in Asia.

Lauter has spoken or consulted on American studies and American literature, multiculturalism and ethnic studies, literary canons and anthologies in more than 25 countries and throughout the U.S. He was a Fulbright Professor in Austria, a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Russia and a visiting professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, San Jose State University and at the John F. Kennedy Institute at the Free University of Berlin.

The recipient of the Bode-Pearson Award for Lifetime Achievement in American Studies from the American Studies Association, Lauter also received the Jay Hubbell Award for Lifetime Achievement in American Studies from the Modern Language Association and the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Ethnic Studies from the Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the U.S.