Dr. Jay Barth
Jay Barth will deliver the annual Robert B. Walz Lecture in Arkansas and Regional History, 7 pm, Wednesday, Sept. 26, in the Foundation Hall of the Reynolds Center. Dr. Barth’s presentation is “2012: The End of the Progressive Reform Era in Arkansas Politics?”
Dr. Barth is M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Professor of Politics and Chair of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Hendrix College in Conway.
Dr. Barth is recognized as a leading authority on politics in Arkansas and the contemporary South. He is the co-author (with the late Diane D. Blair) of the influential second edition of Arkansas Politics and Government: Do the People Rule?
His recent “Ripe for Reform: Arkansas as a Model for Social Change” revealed that Arkansas through bipartisan efforts led the region with advances in education, health care, opportunity for low-income families, and tax and budgetary policy. The report was supported by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.
A native of central Arkansas, Dr. Barth graduated magna cum laude from Hendrix College with a bachelor’s degree in American Studies. He received a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A member of the Department of Politics and International Relations at Hendrix since 1994, he is a five-time recipient of a Hendrix senior class’s Faculty Appreciation Award that recognizes a faculty member who has shown “excellence in instruction and concern for the welfare of Hendrix students.” In 2007, Dr. Barth was named Arkansas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Dr. Barth serves on the State Board of Education. He is a frequent panelist on “Arkansas Week,” the public affairs program on AETN, and has written columns for the Arkansas Times.
Dr. Robert Walz taught history at SAU from 1958 to 1987. He promoted the study of Arkansas history through his scholarship, preservation of historic photographs, and leadership in state organizations.
The Walz Lectureship was established in 1995 with a bequest from the estate of Mrs. Curtistine A. Walz, in honor of her husband’s long service to the university.
The lecture is sponsored by the College of Liberal and Performing Arts at Southern Arkansas University and is free and open to the public. The audience is also welcomed to attend a reception for Dr. Barth in the Reynolds Center following the lecture.
