Innovative research on Jefferson-related topics to be featured

The University has established a Thomas Jefferson Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series to bring to the Grounds eminent scholars whose research will produce fresh insights and breakthroughs on topics related to Jefferson.

Supported by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Inc., which owns Jefferson's home, Monticello, the lecture series will be launched in the fall of 2001 with three speakers on the transformation of America and the West, begun by the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Presenting the inaugural lectures will be Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor of history at the University of California at Davis; Kenneth Prewitt, dean of the Graduate Faculty at New School University and former director of the U.S. Census Bureau; and David Hurst Thomas, curator of North American archaeology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Each will give a public lecture and participate in seminars during the week of Oct. 10 through 14, to help kick off the Lewis and Clark national bicentennial programs at U.Va. and Monticello.

"It is highly fitting that the inaugural lectures in this series be related to the Lewis and Clark expedition," said U.Va. President John T. Casteen III. "The opening of the vast American continent ranks among Thomas Jefferson's greatest visions and achievements."

The Jefferson lecture series will be held every two years, in part to provide time for intensive new research on topics related to Jefferson. The visiting lecturers will meet with students during their stay.

"With the establishment of this lecture series through the generous support of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, we hope to enhance the educational experience of our students and to advance scholarship on Jefferson and his times," Casteen said.