FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 26, 2012
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications (304) 696-7153
Yeager Symposium focuses on ‘Emerging Threats to National Security;’ Pulitzer winner Laurie Garrett to speak on bioterrorism
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Laurie Garrett, a nationally known, award-winning author, lecturer and political analyst, will speak on “Bioterrorism: The Modern Peril,” at Marshall University Monday, Nov. 5, at the 26th annual Yeager Symposium.
Garrett, who has
won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism, the Peabody Broadcasting Award and the
George C. Polk Award for Reporting, is senior fellow
for global health with the Council on Foreign Relations. She will speak
at 7 p.m. in the Marshall University Foundation Hall,
Home of the Erickson Alumni Center, on the Huntington campus.
The
first part of the symposium, titled “The New Terror: Emerging Threats to
National Security,” will take place Tuesday, Oct. 30. Dr. Jason
Morrissette, a political science professor at Marshall, will speak on “The
Politics of Fear: Domestic and Lone-Wolf Terrorism in the U.S.” His
presentation starts at 7 p.m. in room BE5 on the lower level of the
Memorial Student Center on the Huntington campus.
Yeager
Scholars Shaina Taylor and Rikki Miller, co-chairs of the symposium, said
Garrett was their first choice to be the speaker on bioterrorism.
“Her
body of work is outstanding from any point of view,” Taylor said. “Rikki and I
worked tirelessly to bring her to Marshall, and we were overjoyed when we
received her confirmation. What makes Garrett so special, though, is not only
her lengthy list of accomplishments but her ability to present dense scientific
material in a way that is both accessible and easy to understand.”
Garrett
was one of three scientific consultants on the Warner Bros. film “Contagion.”
She is the author of multiple books, including The Coming Plague, Betrayal
of Trust and I Heard the Sirens Scream.
Morrissette’s
expertise is in World Politics, Conflict and Security, Post-Soviet Politics and
Environmental Politics. He was one of three faculty members who received the
Pickens-Queen Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010.
“We really
wanted to showcase some of Marshall’s own talent,” Taylor said. “He is
extremely knowledgeable on the topic, and his lecture style is very much
engaging.”
Taylor
and Miller, both seniors, said they wanted to select a topic for the lecture
series that had as much broad, interdisciplinary appeal as possible.
“Finding
a way to fuse politics and biology was not always necessarily easy or
evident to us in the early stages of the planning process, but
we eventually settled upon the umbrella concept of terrorism in the
21st Century, which allowed us to feature speakers on domestic and lone-wolf
terrorism as well as bio-terror,” Taylor said. “We felt that this topic not
only had broad appeal, but that it also spoke to many fears and anxieties
relevant to the American people today.”
Both events are free to the public. A book signing will follow Garrett’s presentation.
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For further information, contact: Office of University Communications Marshall University 213 Old Main | Huntington, WV 25755-1090 Fax: (304) 696-3197 |
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