Penn State’s Michael Berube to lecture on humanities March 4

Michael Berube, professor and director of the Institute for Arts and the Humanities at Pennsylvania State University, will visit campus on Friday, March 4, to deliver two talks on the humanities. 

On Friday morning, Berube will give the talk “Narrative and Intellectual Disability,” sponsored by SU’s Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies; the School of Education; and the Beyond Compliance Coordinating Committee. Of particular interest to all humanities scholars, the event will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Whitman School of Management, room 003. 

On Friday afternoon, beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the Hillyer Room (Bird Library 6th floor), Berube will deliver “The Humanities Without Apology” and lead a discussion on graduate education in the humanities. This event is sponsored by the English department in The College of Arts and Sciences. 

Both events are free and open to the public; parking is available in SU pay lots. 

Berube is the Paterno Family Professor in Literature at Penn State, where he teaches American literature and cultural studies and disability studies. He serves as second vice president of the Modern Language Association and on the National Council of the American Association of University Professors. 

Berube is the author and editor of nine books on cultural studies, disability studies and debates about liberal politics, the humanities and higher education. He is also a prominent blogger on these topics. His recent books include “The Left at War” (NYU Press, 2009), “Rhetorical Occasions: Essays on Humans and the Humanities” (University of North Carolina Press, 2006), and “What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts? Classroom Politics and ‘Bias’ in Higher Education” (W.W. Norton, 2006). 

For more information, contact Erin Mackie, professor and chair of the English Department, at 443-4950, or esmackie@syr.edu.