Social and Political Commentator Lectures on Feb. 28 and at Annual Meeting

Quick Facts

Piven is a distinguished professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York.

She will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Richardson Ballroom in the DiGiorgio Campus Center and will serve as the luncheon keynote speaker for the South Carolina Political Science Association annual meeting on Saturday, March 2.

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Frances Fox Piven

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Frances Fox Piven, who is widely recognized as one of America's most thoughtful and provocative commentators on its social welfare system, will give a Feb. 28 talk on poverty, inequality, and democracy in America.

The lecture, "Who’s Afraid of Frances Fox Piven? The Professor Glenn Beck Loves to Hate,” will be held at 7 p.m. in the Richardson Ballroom in the DiGiorgio Campus Center. Beck, a well-known conservative radio and television commentator, has repeatedly attacked Piven and her late husband, Richard Cloward, on his broadcasts, accusing them of hatching a left-wing plot to "intentionally collapse our economic system."

Piven also will serve as the luncheon keynote speaker for the South Carolina Political Science Association annual meeting being hosted by Winthrop on Friday, March 1 and Saturday, March 2.

Piven has won lifetime achievement awards from three disciplines - sociology, social work and political science.

"Political scientist, activist, and educator, Frances Fox Piven, my mentor at CUNY, has modeled for her students a life of scholar-activism, and this is perhaps the most important reason I wanted to bring her to Winthrop to meet our students," said Jennifer Leigh Disney, associate professor of political science and director of the women's studies program at Winthrop.

Piven is a distinguished professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York. As the author of numerous books and articles on the relationship between social movements and electoral politics and past president of the American Sociological Association (ASA), Piven has won a Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology from the association in 2000, a Lifetime Achievement Award in Social Work Education from the Council of Social Work Education in 2001, the ASA Award for the Public Understanding of Sociology in 2003, and a Charles E. McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Political Science Section of the American Political Science Association in 2004.

The Departments of Sociology, Social Work and Political Science are hosting her visit, along with the John C. West Forum on Politics and Policy, Women's Studies, African American Studies, Peace, Justice, and Conflict Resolution Studies, Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Global Learning Initiative Engagement grant.

On March 1-2, nearly 80 political science faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students from across South Carolina will arrive at Winthrop for its 2013 annual meeting. Disney, Adolphus Belk Jr. and Michael Lipscomb from Winthrop are conference co-organizers.

Piven will give the keynote at noon on Saturday. Winthrop students and faculty members will give 12 presentations on various topics, in addition to faculty members helping chair or moderating discussions.

For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or e-mailing her at longshawj@winthrop.edu.

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