Faculty to Present 2016 Presidential Election in Historical Context

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three University of Arkansas professors will provide a historical perspective on the 2016 presidential election during a panel discussion on Oct. 12.

The discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be from 4:10 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. in Room 216 of the J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. Center for Academic Excellence. The U of A chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honors society, is hosting the event.

The scheduled speakers are: Randall Woods, Distinguished Professor of history; Calvin White Jr., associate professor and chair of the Department of History; and Xavier Medina Vidal; assistant professor of political science and Diane D. Blair Professor of Latino Studies in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Woods, the John A. Cooper Professor of History in Fulbright College, is the author of two critically acclaimed books about President Lyndon Johnson: LBJ: Architect of American Ambition (2006) and Prisoners of Hope: Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, and the Limits of Liberalism, published earlier this year. Woods is a recognized scholar in the field of U.S. diplomatic history, and has published nine books on various topics including Vietnam, the Cold War and Sen. J. William Fulbright.

White studies the U.S. South with a concentration on the African American experience. He also explores the ways that religion, music, and other cultural variables influenced the development of black identity in the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta.

Vidal’s research interests include U.S. politics and Mexican politics. In U.S. politics, he focuses on Hispanic/Latino political behavior, Latino political thought, state politics and policy, race and ethnicity, ethnic media, and immigration politics.