DATE: April 08, 2008

CONTACT: William Maker, (864) 656-5365
makerw@clemson.edu

WRITER: Ross Norton, (864) 656-4810
rnorton@clemson.edu

Phi Beta Kappa lecture explores definitions of modern women

CLEMSON  — The first Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar to lecture at Clemson will tackle issues of defining modern women. Sandra Harding will deliver a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at the Strom Thurmond Institute Self Auditorium.

Harding is a professor of education and women’s studies at the University of California- Los Angeles, and from 1996 to 2000 was director of UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women.

Her visit and lecture are part of the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program, which each year makes available 12 or more distinguished scholars who visit 100 colleges and universities with Phi Beta Kappa chapters. They spend two days on each campus, meeting informally with students and faculty members, taking part in classroom discussions, and giving a public lecture open to the entire academic community.

Harding’s lecture at Clemson is called, “Can Women Ever Become Modern? New Directions in Thinking about Gender, Science and Modernity.”

A philosopher of science, she taught at the University of Delaware from 1976 to 1996 prior to joining the faculty at UCLA. She co-edited the journal “Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society” from 2000 to 2005 and is the author or editor of 15 books and special journal issues.

She has been a consultant to several United Nations organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization, UNESCO, the U.N. Development Fund for Women and the U.N. Commission on Science and Technology for Development. She was a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam, the University of Costa Rica, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Asian Institute of Technology.

The Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Program contributes to the intellectual life of campus by facilitating an exchange of ideas among the visiting scholar, students and faculty members, says William Maker, chairman of Clemson’s department of philosophy and religion, which is sponsoring the event along with the university chapter of Phi Beta Kappa; the Strom Thurmond Institute; the women’s studies program; the Calhoun Honors College; and the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities.  

Clemson’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was established in April 2007.