A.D. White professor addresses threats to democracy

Theda Skocpol, Harvard scholar and A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell, will present the public lecture "Rising Threats to U.S. Democracy - Roots and Responses" on April 9 at 4 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

The event is part of Skocpol's A.D. White Professors-at-Large (ADW-PAL) visit April 8-12 and is co-sponsored by the Department of Government. She was elected in 2015 to the A.D. White Professor-at-Large program, which was established in 1965 to bring the world's greatest scientists, artists and scholars to Cornell to advance the intellectual and creative life of the campus and community.

Skocpol is a professor of both sociology and government at Harvard. One of the most highly cited social scientists in the world, Skocpol is uniquely situated to address the state of U.S. democracy today, said Suzanne Mettler, the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).

"Her wide-ranging scholarship has probed the role that citizens have played historically in invigorating democracy, typically through widespread civic organizations. She has also investigated the political circumstances under which social policies have been enacted successfully and the crucial role that political institutions exert in shaping such outcomes," Mettler said.

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.