U.S. Senate Confirms Three Bush Appointees to Advisory Council of National Endowment for the Humanities

WASHINGTON, (March 18, 2002)

The U.S. Senate on Friday, March 15, confirmed three of President's Bush's appointees to the National Council on the Humanities, the advisory board of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The new members are:

Amy A. Kass is senior lecturer in the Humanities Collegiate Division at the University of Chicago. For more than 25 years, she has taught courses in classic literature and philosophy. Her books include American Lives: Cultural Differences, Individual Distinction (1995) and Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar: Readings on Courting and Marrying (2000). She has a B.A. from the University of Chicago, an M.A. in the history of ideas from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of education from Johns Hopkins University.

Andrew Ladis is Franklin Professor of Art History at the University of Georgia. An expert in Italian Renaissance art, he has written numerous articles and reviews and seven books, including Italian Renaissance Maiolica from Southern Collections (1989), The Brancacci Chapel (1993), The Craft of Art: Originality and Industry in the Italian Renaissance and Baroque Workshop (1995) and Giotto and the World of Early Italian Art: An Anthology of Literature, 4 vols. (1998). He has B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Virginia.

Wright L. Lassiter, Jr. is president of El Centro College in Dallas, Texas. He previously held the presidencies of Bishop College in Dallas and Schenectady County Community College in Schenectady, N.Y. He serves on the boards of the Texas Council on the Humanities, the African American Museum in Dallas and the Dallas Urban League. He has a B.S. from Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss., an M.B.A. from Indiana University at Bloomington and an Ed.D. in higher education finance from Auburn University in Alabama.

The National Council on the Humanities consists of 26 presidentially appointed distinguished citizens, who serve staggered six-year terms.

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