Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Wilmington, NC – Nationally known political scientist Dr. Merle Black will speak on “The Rise of Southern Republicans and the Election of Nov. 5, 2002” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 25, in Cameron Hall Auditorium. The event is free and the public is invited.

Responding to his presentation will be UNC Chapel Hill state government expert Dr. Thad Beyle and 18th District Cumberland County Representative Mia Morris, a Republican and graduate of the UNCW Institute of Political Leadership.

Dr. Lee Johnston, professor of political science at UNC Wilmington and organizer of the event, will moderate.

“Merle Black is a nationally recognized scholar on Southern politics and an award-winning author,” commented Dr. Johnston. “The Department of Political Science and the Office of the Chancellor are sponsoring this event to give the UNCW community and the community at large opportunity to hear an expert of national repute to speak about Southern politics two weeks before the election.”

Dr. Black specializes in the study of politics in the modern South. He was born in Oklahoma in 1942 and reared in East Texas. He graduated from Harvard College in 1964 and received a doctorate in Political Science from The University of Chicago in 1972. Professor Black taught at UNC-Chapel Hill for 19 years, and in1989 became the Asa G. Candler Professor of Politics and Government at Emory University.

In 1996, he received Emory University's Scholar-Teacher Award for excellence in research and teaching. He was a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar in 1999-2000.

Professor Black's scholarly writing centers on several projects in collaboration with his twin brother Earl Black of Rice University. They coauthored Politics and Society in the South in 1987, which won the Ralph G. Bunche Award of the American Political Science Association and the V. O. Key Award of the Southern Political Science Association. In 1992 they published The Vital South, which won the 1992 Award of the Association of American Publishers for "the most outstanding book in government and political science." Their latest book, The Rise of Southern Republicans, was published by Harvard University Press in the spring of 2002.

Dr. Thad Beyle is a political scientist, writer and consultant. Born 1934 in Syracuse, N.Y., he graduated from Syracuse University in 1956 and master’s in 1960, and received the Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in1963. He has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill since 1967 and was named Thomas C. Pearsall Professor of Political Science in 1993.

Dr. Beyle has worked with North Carolina and national governors, and helped establish the Southern Growth Policies Board (1969-71) and has served as consultant to the National Governors' Association on gubernatorial transitions, both out of and into office (1982, 1990).

He was a member of the board of directors of the NC Center for Public Policy Research, 1977-1992, and chairman of the board 1980-89. For a decade from 1987-97, he was on the board of directors of the NC Institute of Political Leadership and chairman in 1995-97.

Elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in November 1996, Rep. Mia Morris lists her employment as a full-time Army battalion commander spouse. A former teacher, she is active in Fayetteville and Cumberland County and Republican activities, serving as a campaign volunteer for Bush/Quayle in 1988 and 1992 and as a delegate to the 2000 National Republican Convention.

She currently serves as a member of the board of the UNCW North Carolina Institute of Political Leadership. NCFREE ranked her number three as most effective overall legislator in 1999-2000.

Mrs. Morris earned a bachelor’s degree in French and Philosophy in 1986 from the University of San Francisco.

For more information, contact Dr. Lee Johnston at 910/962-3224.