MSU ethicist to take part in prestigious Oxford Round Table

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State philosophy professor is being invited to England next year to examine a major public issue facing modern societies.

"Ethical Sentiments: The Waning of Trust in Government" will be the topic when Michael Clifford joins an international gathering of some three dozen representatives from the public and private sectors at the 2007 Oxford Round Table.

The academic conference is being hosted in August by the University of Oxford.

Established in 1980, the ORT works "to promote human advancement and understanding through the improvement of education." In addition to faculty members from major universities, participants traditionally include government-level educational leaders, United States governors, members of the British Parliament, and corporate officers, among others.

Clifford, a doctoral graduate of Vanderbilt University, has taught ethics in MSU's department of philosophy and religion since 1992. Widely published in the field of philosophy, he is the author of "Savage Identities: Political Genealogy after Foucault" (Routledge, 2001).

This year's ORT will be held on the campus of Harris Manchester College in Manchester. Clifford and other invited members were identified through a detailed screening process.

The results of specific conference deliberations are published and distributed to individuals, governments and academic institutions around the world.

NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information on the 2007 ORT or Dr. Clifford's thoughts on this year's topic, contact him at 662-325-3114 or mrc4@ra.msstate.edu.

For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.