Shorter College Slates Seminar on Terrorism

Three scholars will join together to present a seminar on terrorism at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4, in Shorter College’s Brookes Chapel. The event is sponsored by Shorter’s Department of History and Political Science and Eta Pi Sigma, the history and political science club. The public is invited to attend at no charge.

The program includes Dr. Randall Law, assistant professor of history at Birmingham Southern College, who will discuss “Lessons from the History of Terrorism”; Dr. Dwight Cassity, associate professor of political science at Shorter College, whose topic will be “Beginnings: The Cold War and the War on Terror”; and Dr. Stephen Shellman, assistant professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, who will discuss “The Rational Terrorist: Systematic Explanations for Tactical Choices.”

“Since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, American society, U.S. policy and global politics have been dominated by questions of terrorism,” said Dr. James M. Scarry, assistant professor of history at Shorter College and coordinator of the event. “These questions are of particular importance to our students, our nation and our world. If we are ever to live in a world of peace, we must be willing to seek and discuss such answers.”

The March 4 seminar will include presentations by each scholar and will conclude with a question-and-answer period.

	Dr. Law has been recognized with Birmingham-Southern’s Bob Whetstone Faculty Development Award, which is presented to a non-tenured faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching. He frequently speaks on the history of terrorism to academic audiences and civic organizations. His book “A History of Terrorism” will be available later this year through Polity Press. He has taught courses on terrorism and the history of Russia and Europe at Birmingham-Southern since 2003.
	Dr. Cassity has 35 years of higher education teaching experience. During this time, he received the USG Exemplary Online Course Developer Award for his work with an American government WebCT course judged as one of the top 16 WebCT courses in the country. He has served on the executive board of the Georgia Political Science Association and the executive committee of the Georgia Board of Regents Political Science Advisory Committee, which he chaired in 1998. He has spoken about the Cold War at colleges, conventions and public forums. His teaching interests include international relations, U.S. foreign policy and the American presidency.
	Dr. Shellman teaches courses on intra-national political violence and terrorism, comparative political analysis and international relations. He is the director of the Violent Intrastate Political Conflict and Terrorism (VIPCAT) research laboratory at the University of Georgia as well as the co-director of a summer workshop on teaching about terrorism.

Additionally, he is a visiting fellow at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism, within the Center of Excellence of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Shellman is also the author of numerous articles related to this topic.

For additional information, visit www.shorter.edu/academics/history/symposiums.htm.

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