98-07-10:  INAUGURAL CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON THE HON. MILLS E. GODWIN




The inaugural conference of the Governors Project, sponsored by U.Va.'s
new Center for Governmental Studies and the Weldon Cooper Center for
Public Service, will focus on Mills E. Godwin Jr. and take place at the
Boar's Head Inn July 17 and 18.

Conference participants will examine Godwin's two campaigns and
administrations from 1965 to 1969 and from 1973 to 1977.

Former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles will be the guest speaker at a Friday
night Rotunda dinner at the University of Virginia honoring Godwin and
his wife Katherine.

The aim of the Governors Project is to bring together legislators,
administrators, historians and journalists to review and evaluate the
state's governorships. Their work will be made available to scholars
and the public through commemorative publications, articles in the
Cooper Center's newsletter and specially produced PBS programs.

Founded this year by political analyst Larry J. Sabato, U.Va.'s Robert
Kent Gooch Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs, the Center for
Governmental Studies is a non-partisan organization devoted to bridging
the gap between academe and real-world politics. Its primary mission is
"to study national and state governmental and political concerns with
an eye towards practical projects that benefit and educate the public,"
according to the center's brochure. Forthcoming projects will monitor
election campaign practices, conduct oral histories of senior
officeholders and look at patterns of occasional voting.

For information, call 924-3604.