COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Oct. 31, 2005) – What does the mythological figure of Odysseus have in common with film director Oliver Stone and other 1960s social revolutionaries?

Donald Whaley, an associate professor at Salisbury State University in Maryland, will explain those connections as the featured speaker of the Tennessee Tech University history department’s and Upper Cumberland Heritage Foundation’s J. Michael Winchester Lecture, set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, in Bruner Hall, Room 119.

The title of his presentation will be, “From Odysseus to Oliver Stone, Jim Morrison and Camille Paglia: The 1960s Adventurer as Social Type.”

Whaley received bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his master’s in history from Princeton University. He has taught at Salisbury since 1975, and his areas of expertise include the history of the South, 19th century America and social and cultural history.

His study of film director Stone has garnered much critical acclaim and is included in the Encyclopedia of Filmmakers. Whaley has also written extensively on the subject, including a book published by the University of Kentucky Press.

For more information about the Winchester Lecture, call TTU’s history department at 931/372-3332.

--Tracey LeFevre
This information posted 31 October 2005