Inaugural Honors Lecture presents eminent author Dr. Mark Bauerlein Feb. 10

Feb. 2, 2009 -- The Honors College of Arkansas State University-Jonesboro announces its inaugural Honors Lecture with Dr. Mark Bauerlein, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. in the ASU Student Union Auditorium, located in the Reng Student Services Center/Student Union, 101 North Caraway Road, Jonesboro. A reception and book signing will be held at the lecture’s conclusion. This lecture is free, and the public is invited. Dr. Bauerlein’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Honors College, the Graduate School, the College of Agriculture, the College of Business, the College of Communications, the College of Engineering, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of Nursing and Health Professions, the College of Sciences & Mathematics, the Student and the Honors College Association (HCA) at Arkansas State University-Jonesboro.

The Honors Lecture of the Year will be an annual event at Arkansas State University-Jonesboro. The Honors College is the main organizer for this event, but it is supported by a university-wide coalition of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The Honors Lecture of the Year aims to stimulate campus discussion through academic discourse about an issue that affects higher education.

Dr. Mark Bauerlein is a professor of English at Emory University. His newest book, "The Dumbest Generation:  How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future;Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30," was released in May 2008 and has been heralded by CNN, CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal. Drawing upon exhaustive research, detailed portraits, and historical and social analysis, "The Dumbest Generation" argues that “the digital age stupefies young Americans” and lays out a compelling vision for how society can address the future. For more information about Dr. Bauerlein and his book, visit http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/.

Dr. Bauerlein’s other books include “Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906,” “Literary Criticism: An Autopsy,” and “Civil Rights Chronicle: The African American Struggle for Freedom.” Other books include “A Handbook of Literary Terms,” with Dana Gioia and X. J. Kennedy, “The Pragmatic Mind: Explorations in the Psychology of Belief,” and “Whitman and the American Idiom.” His articles and reviews have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Weekly Standard, Reason Magazine, Yale Review, Partisan Review, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Mark Bauerlein earned his doctorate in English at UCLA in 1988. He has taught at Emory since 1989, with a two-and-a-half year break in 2003-05 to serve as the director, Office of Research and Analysis, at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dr. Bauerlein will also be visiting several classes while he is on campus and having lunch with a select group of Honors students. The ASU Bookstore, located in the Reng Student Services Center/Student Union, has the book in stock and it is available for purchase.

For more information, contact Rebecca Oliver, director of Student Services, the Honors College, at (870) 972-2308 or e-mail her at rsoliver@astate.edu.            

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