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Vivien Miller, lecturer in American studies, 
to speak at FSC's Florida Lecture Series

LAKELAND, Fla. (Feb. 6, 2004) - Florida Southern College's Center for Florida History welcomes Dr. Vivien Miller, principal lecturer in American studies at Middlesex University, London, to the Florida Lecture Series Feb. 19. Miller, the Robert A. Stahl Visiting Lecturer in Criminology, will discuss "From Martin Tabert to Cool Hand Luke: Race, Masculinity, and Prisoner Life in Florida in the First Half of the 20th Century." The lecture will start at 7 p.m. in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room on campus. 

"I am delighted to have Vivien Miller with us. No scholar has done more to uncover and explain Florida's penal system during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era than Dr. Miller," said James M. Denham, Director of the FSC Center for Florida History. 

Miller completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and her master's at Florida State University. She went on to complete her doctorate in history at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England. Her book "Crime, Sexual Violence, and Clemency: Florida's Pardon Board and Penal System in the Progressive Era," was published by the University Press of Florida in 2000. Her current research focuses on race, gender, and class issues in southern punishment and penal practices in the first half of the 20th century, as well as gender and the politics of capital punishment. A second book, "The Prison Farm and the Chain Gang: Race, Gender and Punishment in Twentieth-Century Florida," will be published by the University Press of Florida in 2005. Miller resides in London with her husband and daughter and makes frequent research trips to Florida. 


About the Florida Lecture Series 
The Florida Lecture Series is produced by the Center for Florida History and sponsored by the FSC Alumni Association, the Robert and Rose Stahl Criminology Lecture Series, and the Robert W. and Susan E. McKnight Political Affairs Lecture Series. The program brings speakers to the Lakeland campus who approach the issue of "Florida Life and Culture" from a wide range of disciplines, including history, public affairs, law, sociology, criminology, anthropology, literature, music and art. Its overall objective is to create an opportunity for members of the community, faculty, and student body to listen to, interact with and learn from leading scholars and specialists of the state's history and culture. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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