Thursdays at Byrum Center

The Provost and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions invite faculty and staff to Thursdays at the Porter B. Byrum Welcome and Admissions Center on Oct. 11.

A wine and cheese reception will run from 4-4:30 p.m., followed by a program from 4:30-5:15 p.m. that will feature Thomas Frank, Dean Franco and Michele Gillespie.

Frank, professor of history and the winner of the 2012 Nathan and Julie Hatch Prize for Academic Excellence, will discuss will discuss how early Americans learned how to “do” democracy and how his experience at Oxford helped his research. This presentation explores the role of religious voluntarism in building the institutions of a free society.

Franco, associate professor of English, will discuss his book, Race, Rights, and Recognition: Jewish American Literature Since 1969, and how Jewish American literature represents the recent history of domestic civil rights and opportunity and offers surprising responses to current dilemmas of international human rights and responsibility.

Gilespie, the Kahle Family Professor of History, will discuss her latest book, Katharine and R.J. Reynolds: Partners of Fortune in the Making of the New South, and what she learned about early 20th century society and politics in Winston-Salem and the North Carolina Piedmont.