SHERMAN, TEXAS — Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Morris Fiorina will present a lecture, “The Great Disconnect in American Politics,” Thursday, Feb. 14, at 4:30 p.m. in Hoxie Thompson Auditorium of Sherman Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The presentation, subtitled “The Breakdown of Representation in the United States,” extends the discussion introduced in Fiorina’s book Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized Electorate. The book describes the disconnect between a polarized political class and a more centrist electorate and identifies reasons why political commentators have been slow to identify this.
Fiorina is the Wendt Family Professor of Political Science and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He has written widely on American government and politics, with special emphasis on topics in the study of representation and elections, publishing numerous articles and writing or editing 10 books.
In 2006, Fiorina was awarded the Warren E. Miller Prize of the America Political Science Association for career contributions to the study of elections, public opinion, and voting behavior. More recently, he was named the Harold Lasswell Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences.
The Phi Beta Kappa Society selects top scholars in the liberal arts and sciences as Visiting Scholars at universities and colleges where Phi Beta Kappa chapters are located. The program began in 1956.
Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society. It has chapters at 276 institutions and more than half a million members throughout the country. Its mission is to champion education in the liberal arts and sciences, to recognize academic excellence, and to foster freedom of thought and expression. Austin College houses the Iota of Texas chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Additional funding for the Austin College lecture is provided by the College’s Department of Political Science and the Department of Sociology as well as the Pi Sigma Alpha national honorary society for students of political science.
Austin College is a leading national independent liberal arts college located approximately 30 minutes north of the greater Dallas metroplex. in Sherman, Texas. Founded in 1849, making it the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original charter and name, the college is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Recognized nationally for academic excellence in the areas of international education, pre-professional training, and leadership studies, Austin College is one of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book “Colleges that Change Lives.”
