Prominent Experts to Examine Bush Presidency

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George W. Bush

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Iraq, Afghanistan, Sept. 11, education, and domestic, economic and foreign policies will all be examined during a two-day conference on the presidency of George W. Bush. A public discussion will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Friday, April 22, in Giffels Auditorium on the University of Arkansas campus. The forum is open to students, faculty and the general public and will be recorded by C-SPAN for future broadcast on the network. Audience members can ask questions after the panel members make opening comments.

The discussion and conference are being sponsored by the Fulbright Institute of International Relations and the Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

The featured speakers — all prominent experts on the presidency — will discuss all aspects of President Bush’s two-term presidency.

The featured speakers will be:

• Bert Rockman, professor of political science, Purdue University, co-author of Presidential Leadership: The Vortex of Power and The George W. Bush Presidency: Appraisals and Prospects.
• Sunshine Hillygus, associate professor of political science, Duke University, co-author of The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues in Presidential Campaigns.
• Robert Maranto, Twenty-First Century Chair in Leadership, department of educational reform, University of Arkansas, author of The Second Term of George W. Bush.
• Mitchell A. Sollenberger, assistant professor of political science, University of Michigan-Dearborn, author of The President Shall Nominate: How Congress Trumps Executive Power.
• Steven Schier, Congdon Professor of Political Science, Carleton College, author of Ambition and Division: Legacies of the George W. Bush Presidency and Panorama of a Presidency: How George W. Bush Acquired and Spent His Political Capital.
• Alexander Moens, professor of political science, Simon Fraser University, author of The Foreign Policy of George W. Bush: Strategy and Loyalty.

Participants will produce a book on the Bush presidency after the conference, which will be the second of a series drawn from conferences on the American presidency and sponsored by the Fulbright Institute and Blair Center. The first conference, held in 2002, resulted in the publication of The Clinton Riddle: Perspectives on the Forty-second President (University of Arkansas Press, 2004).

The Fulbright Institute of International Relations is dedicated to the scholarly examination of important international topics and to fostering international exchanges of students and faculty. The institute director is Donald R. Kelley, professor of political science. To view more information, visit the Fulbright Institute website.

The Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society was established by an act of U.S. Congress in 2001. It was named in honor of Diane Divers Blair, who taught in the department of political science at the University of Arkansas for 30 years. The center director is Todd G. Shields, professor of political science. For more information, visit the Diane D. Blair Center website