For Immediate Release:  March 1, 2006
Contact: Tom Krattenmaker
610-328-8534
tkratte1@swarthmore.edu
http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/

George Lakey Named Swarthmore's Lang Visiting Professor

Advocate for Nonviolent Social Change to Serve as Visiting Professor

George Lakey, the head of a Philadelphia-based organization internationally known for its leadership in creating and teaching strategies for nonviolent social change, has been selected as Swarthmore College's Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues of Social Change in 2006-2007.

Lakey, the founder and executive director of Training for Change, has been a leader in the field of nonviolent social change since the 1960s and has published extensively for both activist and academic readers.  He has worked in the United States with mineworkers, steelworkers, and civil rights leaders, and, internationally, with South African anti-apartheid activists, Cambodian human rights organizers, and many others.

The Lang Visiting Professorship brings to Swarthmore outstanding social scientists, political leaders, and social activists whose careers demonstrate sustained engagement with major issues of social justice, civil liberties, human rights, and democracy. Eugene M. Lang, a member of Swarthmore's Class of 1938, funded the professorship to add to the socially significant content of the College's academic program.

Along with the sponsoring academic department, the Lang Visiting Professorship is co-hosted by Swarthmore's Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, which is the campus home for activities and programs linking Swarthmore to communities in the U.S. and abroad through service and social action. The Lang Center also serves as Swarthmore's link to Project Pericles, a national organization of colleges and universities committed to making socially responsible and participatory citizenship an essential part of their educational program in the classroom, on the campus, and in the community.

Lakey has published numerous book chapters, pamphlets, and articles on social change, and his work has been translated into at least six languages. His books include A Manual for Direct Action, Powerful Peacemaking: A Strategy for a Living Revolution, and Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership: A Guide for Organizations in Changing Times.

He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, Temple University, and Swarthmore.

"George brings a depth of experience and expertise in peace studies and social change activism that will benefit the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, the Lang Center, and the College," said Ellen Magenheim, economics professor and director for academic relations at the Lang Center.

During his year at Swarthmore, Lakey will teach and work in the College's Peace and Conflict Studies Program. His teaching will include a new course, "Peace Studies and Action," which Lakey is developing with Lee Smithey, assistant professor of sociology and coordinator of Swarthmore's Peace and Conflict Studies Program.

 "George brings a depth of experience and expertise in peace studies and social change activism that will benefit the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, the Lang Center, and the College," said Ellen Magenheim, economics professor and director for academic relations at the Lang Center.