The Link

2010-03-08
COLUMBIA COLLEGE

Award-winning presidential historian, Michael Beschloss, to speak at Columbia College

Beschloss gives 2010 Schiffman Ethics in Society lecture

COLUMBIA, Mo. (March 8, 2010) - Award-winning presidential historian, Michael Beschloss, will deliver the 2010 Schiffman Ethics in Society lecture, Thursday, March 11 in Launer Auditorium on the Columbia College campus. Beschloss' lecture, "The Ethics of Presidents at War," begins at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

"The Schiffman lecture series is an important part of the culture at Columbia College," said Dr. Anthony Alioto, professor of history and the endowed chair in ethics, religious studies and philosophy for the series. "We are fortunate to have a speaker like Michael who can truly address the issue of ethics and war. Given the current debate over such issues as pre-emptive war and the treatment of prisoners, the problem of ethics and war, or what is known as Just War theory, ought to be of profound interest to everyone."

The Schiffman Lecture Series was established in 2000 with a $1.5 million gift - the single largest contribution by a living donor in school history -by trustee emeritus, John A. Schiffman, in honor of his late wife, Althea, a 1941 graduate of Christian College who served on the Columbia College Board of Trustees from 1983 to 1987.

Beschloss is an award-winning presidential historian and author of nine books. He is a regular commentator on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS and received an Emmy in 2005 for his role in the Discovery Channel series "Decisions That Shook the World."

In addition, he is an alumnus of Williams College, studied leadership at Harvard Business School and has served as a historian at the Smithsonian Institution, a Senior Associate Member at the University of Oxford and a Senior Fellow of the Annenberg Foundation.

Beschloss holds three honorary doctorates and is the recipient of the state of Illinois Order of Lincoln and the Harry S. Truman Public Service Award.
He is a trustee of the White House Historical Association, the Foundation for the National Archives and the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Columbia College, a private, nonprofit institution founded in 1851 in Columbia, Mo., educates more than 26,000 students each year and has more than 64,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, visit www.ccis.edu.

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(Contact: Joanne Tedesco, Senior Director, Public Relations, 573-875-7207, jtedesco@ccis.edu)