Stephen Berk, the Henry and Sally Schaffer Professor of Holocaust & Jewish Studies, is giving several lectures at Congregation Beth Emeth to help commemorate the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel and the 170th anniversary of the Albany synagogue. Lecture topics include “2008 Election Fever: Remembering the Strangest Election in American History 60 Years Ago in 1948”; “Israel at the Crossroads: Peace, War or Stalemate in 2008”; and “Jewish Contributions to American Society.”
Assistant Professor of Sociology Deidre Hill Butler was the invited guest speaker for the Federal Bureau of Investigation Albany division’s annual Black History Month Program. Hill Butler’s talk was titled “Dr. Carter G. Woodson and The Origins of Multiculturalism and Connections to Black History Month.” This is also the 2008 National Black History Month theme for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, of which Butler is a longtime member.
Zoe Oxley, associate professor and chair of the Department of Political Science, has co-authored “Public Opinion: Democratic Ideals, Democratic Practice” with Rosie Clawson of Purdue University. The book, published last week by CQ Press, provides an overview of public opinion in the United States, with a particular emphasis on linking the empirical scholarship on public opinion to normative theories of democracy.