Humanities Faculty Spotlight:

Boyle to Give University Distinguished Lecture

The College is pleased to announce that Kevin Boyle, Humanities Distinguished Professor of History, will deliver a scholarly lecture on March 5 as part of the 2007-2008 University Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture will begin at 4:30 p.m. in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, 1871 North High Street.

The University Distinguished Lecture Series was inaugurated in 1996 as one of the university's highest honors for a senior faculty member. The lectureship is awarded in recognition of outstanding academic achievement, particularly, but not exclusively, in research, scholarship, or creative activity.

Boyle is known for his charismatic speaking style, enthusiastic storytelling and captivating ability to turn historical novels into must-reads by more than just like-minded academia types. His lecture is entitled "The Splendid Dead: An American Ordeal" which will focus on the eighty-year-old execution of two immigrant workingmen by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Branded an "academic star" by numerous colleagues, Boyle has authored, coauthored or edited four major books. His book, "The Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age," which studies racism in the American North through the Ossian Sweet case, was a 2004 National Book Award winner.

Other recognitions include the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award, a listing as a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in History and fellowships with the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fulbright Commission and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Boyle's work and research in the field of history on labor issues, civil rights and race relations in the twentieth-century are brought to life during his lectures.

The March 5 lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception. Please visit the University Distinguished Lecture Web site for an abstract of Professor Boyle's lecture.