Nolan Fowler Constitution Day
Free Speech and the College Campus
Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023
6 p.m. in Derryberry Hall Auditorium
free and open to the public
Join us as we celebrate the 19th Annual Nolan Fowler Constitution Day with guest speaker
Dr. Sigal Ben-Porath.
Dr. Ben-Porath is the MRMJJ Presidential Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also a member of the philosophy and the political science departments, and the faculty director of the SNF Paideia Program for civic dialogue. She received her doctorate in political philosophy from Tel-Aviv University in 2000, and was a fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Human Values, The Institute for Advanced Studies, Tel-Aviv University’s Safra Center for Ethics, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. Her recent books are Cancel Wars (Chicago 2023), Free Speech on Campus (Penn Press, 2017) as well as Making Up Our Mind (with Michael Johanek, Chicago 2019). She chaired Penn's Committee on Open Expression 2015-2019, and serves on the boards of the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia, Middlebury’s Conflict Transformation Center, and Penn’s Project for Philosophy for the Young. In recent years she offers guidance to college campuses on policy development and responses to controversies surrounding speech.
About Nolan Fowler Constitution Day
Dr. Nolan Fowler (1913-2008) was a faculty member in the history department at Tennessee
Tech from 1962 until his retirement in 1979. Dr. Fowler taught courses in constitutional
law and had a passion for teaching the U.S. Constitution to students. In 2005, Dr.
Fowler committed $150,000 to create the Nolan Fowler Endowment for Constitutional
Development at Tennessee Tech. The Federal Government mandates that all educational
institutions that receive federal funds hold an annual Constitution Day on or around
Sept. 17. Dr. Fowler's legacy has ensured that Tennessee Tech's annual observance
of Constitution Day reflects his love and commitment to education and allows for the
program to bring in exceptional, nationally renowned speakers.
Nolan Fowler held a Ph.D. and an M.A. from the University of Kentucky and a B.S. from Marshall University. He previously taught at Morehead State University, where he coached track and cross-country and instituted that program. He led the Morehead team to conference championships in 1955 and 1956. Dr. Fowler was the National Junior AAU 56-pound weight throwing champion in 1943 and placed in five U.S. championship throws. In 1974 he was nominated for Outstanding Faculty of the Year at Tech and in 2001 he was inducted into the OVC Hall of Fame.
