Contact: Kay F. Jones
Mississippi State's selection for the 2000 Outstanding Humanist Award will be the featured speaker for a special Oct. 25 public program at the university's Mitchell Memorial Library.
Robert E. Wolverton Sr. will present a lecture titled "Man, The Unfinished Animal." The program begins at 2:30 p.m. in the John Grisham Room.
The Outstanding Humanist Award and Lecture are co-sponsored annually by the College of Arts and Sciences and its Institute for the Humanities, in cooperation with the Mississippi Humanities Council.
Wolverton, a John Grisham Master Teacher, is a professor of classical languages and literature in the foreign languages department. Before joining the university in 1977 as vice president for academic affairs, he taught at Florida State and Tufts universities and the University of Illinois, among others. His publications include works on the classics, as well as on higher education administration.
Giving a glimpse of the presentation, he said, "In all ancient stories of creation, man was created for specific purposes. How man has developed, for good or ill, and the forces responsible for that development will be considered."
Wolverton holds a bachelor's degree from Hanover (Ind.) College, a master's from the University of Michigan and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina.
Long active in the community, he is past president and current secretary of the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association, a founding member and former president of the Starkville Community Theater and recently was named to the Starkville Public Library board of trustees.
For more information on the lecture, telephone (662) 325-7094.