Downtown Talk Focuses on Patriotism
A local panel of historians will discuss “Patriotism in America and the Importance of Compromise” at an upcoming Westmont Downtown Conversation. The free lecture, Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m., will be held at the University Club, 1332 Santa Barbara St.
The conversation follows the Feb. 10, sold-out President’s Breakfast with Pulitzer Prize winning author and noted historian David McCullough.
The downtown conversation will feature: Patricia Cohen, UC Santa Barbara professor; Shirley Mullen, Westmont provost; Rick Pointer, Westmont professor; and Eric Burrows, San Marcos High School teacher.
Cohen joined the faculty at UC Santa Barbara in 1976 and chairs the university’s history department. She earned her doctorate at UC Berkeley. She has written several books including “The American Promise,” and “A Calculating People: The Spread of Numeracy in Early America.”
Mullen has been at Westmont since 1984. She earned her Ph.D. in history at the University of Minnesota. Since then, she has completed a second doctorate in philosophy at the University of Wales. Mullen specializes in British history, and the history of ideas.
Pointer chairs Westmont’s history department. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees at The Johns Hopkins University. His research on colonial New York culminated in a book, “Protestant Pluralism and the New York Experience; A Study of Eighteenth-Century Religious Diversity.” He came to Westmont in 1994.
Burrows has been teaching at San Marcos High School for 11 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Stanford University, a master’s degree from Claremont Graduate School and a law degree from UC Berkeley. He was selected 2005 California Teacher of the Year and is a fellow of both the South Coast Writers and California History-Social Science Project.
The Westmont Foundation sponsors the Downtown Conversations. No reservations are necessary for the free event. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, contact the Westmont public affairs office at (805)565-6051 or e-mail pubaffairs@westmont.edu.