History Professor to Join PBS Producer Nov. 25 at UA for Historical Presentation on Non-Violent Conflict

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The executive producer of the Public Broadcasting Service television series “A Force More Powerful” will lead a video presentation and discussion on the history of non-violent action as a political strategy during a Nov. 25 session at The University of Alabama’s ten Hoor Hall, room 30.

The 7 p.m. session, entitled “A Force More Powerful: Non-Violent Conflict in Historical Perspective” will be led by Jack DuVall, the PBS producer and director of the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict, and Dr. Scott O’Bryan, assistant professor of history in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences. DuVall will use video presentations from the PBS series to bring to life historical case studies depicting means of non-violent conflict resolution.

The event is sponsored by the department of history, the Blount Undergraduate Initiative, and UA’s Asian studies program.

DuVall is a television executive and veteran writer who is also co-author of a companion book that shares a name with the PBS series. For 16 years DuVall has helped develop, market, executive-produce, and promote non-fiction television programming, with past clients including the Turner Broadcasting System, The Learning Channel, KCET/Los Angeles, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, The Christian Science Monitor, and more than 30 other commercial television and non-profit organizations.

His writing includes speeches for presidential candidates in four national campaigns and poems and articles that have appeared in literary journals and major newspapers. For more information on the series, see its PBS web site http://www.pbs.org.

The College of Arts and Sciences is UA’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state, with approximately 5,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students. The College has received national recognition for academic excellence, and A&S students have been selected for many of the nation’s top academic honors, including 15 Rhodes Scholarships, 13 Goldwater Scholarships, seven Truman Scholarships and 11 memberships on USA Today’s Academic All-American teams.