Community Lecture Series

"What Makes America Great? Celebrating the Declaration of Independence"

Presenters: Ashley Woodiwiss and Ryan Floyd
Reception: 5:30 p.m.
Presentation: 6:00 p.m.

Join Political Science Professor Ashley Woodiwiss and History Professor Ryan Floyd as they examine the uniqueness of the Declaration of Independence in this the year of its 250th anniversary. What did its "self-evident truths" mean to the Founding Generation? What do they mean to us today? Professors Woodiwiss and Floyd will explore the philosophies that inform the Declaration and the actions leading up to its writing. Come and consider a text that inspired 13 small colonies in 1776 and continues to inspire the world today.

Dr. Ashley Woodiwiss currently serves as the chair of the Department of Government, Criminology, and Sociology at Lander University. He holds a PhD from UNC-Chapel Hill in the field of political science with specializations in American Government, Contemporary Democratic Theory, and Political Theology. He has published and taught in those areas for more than 40 years in higher education encompassing four colleges and universities, with Lander University being his last.

Dr. Ryan Floyd is a professor at Lander University, where he has taught since earning his PhD from The University of Alabama in 2010. He is the author of Abandoning American Neutrality: Woodrow Wilson and the beginning of the Great War, August 1914-December 1915 as well as numerous other publications. His courses cover U.S. diplomatic relations, Southern history, and the history of American wildlife and wilderness conservation.