January 30, 1995 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408/459-2495)

MEMORIAL HONORS ENVIRONMENTALIST AND UC SANTA CRUZ POLITICS PROFESSOR GRANT McCONNELL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Scholars from around the country will gather at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to discuss the life and work of conservationist and former UCSC faculty member Grant McConnell at a memorial colloquium scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday, February 17, in the Merrill College Baobab Lounge.

McConnell, who died in his Bonny Doon home in 1993 at the age of 78, was a professor of politics at UCSC from 1969 until his retirement in 1980. He is known for his visionary work in the field of environmental politics and is considered a seminal figure in the study of American political development. An ardent conservationist, McConnell played a key role in the effort to establish the North Cascades National Park in Washington State. He was instrumental in founding UCSC's environmental studies program and also helped establish College Eight at UCSC. Among his books are The Modern Presidency, Steel and the Presidency, and Private Power and American Democracy, now considered a classic. McConnell came to UCSC from the University of Chicago, where he was chair of the Political Science Department.

The colloquium will feature a keynote talk titled "The Decline of McConnell's Democracy," presented by Theodore Lowi, a former president of the American Political Science Association and currently the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions at Cornell University. Following will be a roundtable discussion, titled "Memories of McConnell," featuring Robert Hawkinson, a professor of politics and dean of the college at Willamette University; Karen Orren, a professor of political science at UCLA; and Michael Rogin, a professor of political science at UC Berkeley.

The talk is sponsored by the Board of Studies in Politics at UCSC. A reception follows. For more information, call (408) 459- 2505.

Press Releases Home | Search Press Releases | Press Release Archive | Services for Journalists

Maintained by:pioweb@cats.ucsc.edu