Presidential Leadership Panel Discussion at Braden River High

MANATEE COUNTY -- A distinguished panel of experts will discuss American Presidents and leadership during a special forum titled “Leadership Lessons Learned: United States Presidents” on Thursday, February 23, 2012, beginning at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Braden River High School. The public is invited, and admission is free.

Presented in conjunction with Presidents’ Day, the forum is part of the Manatee District's Teaching American History Grant Program, a federally funded initiative to enhance History education in Manatee County. The topic is especially timely and intriguing during this presidential election year.

Topics to be covered include:

• Presidential Leadership and Foreign Affairs: Is it all about the economy?

• What kind of leadership do we want?

• What makes a president a leader?

• Is successful presidential leadership inherently partisan?

The panel for the forum will consist of nationally acclaimed experts in U.S. History and Law, including Dr. John Belohlavek, Professor of History, University of South Florida; Dr. Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy and Senior Fellow in the Government Law School at Albany Law School; and Dr. Matthew Pinsker, Associate Professor of History, Pohanka Chair in American Civil War History at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania.

The moderator will be Dr. Ray Arsenault, John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History and Program Advisor of the Florida Studies Program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

The forum is made possible through the Manatee District’s “Teaching American History Grant” offered through the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the grant is to help teachers develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of U.S. history as a separate subject matter within the core curriculum, to improve instruction and raise student achievement.

Prior to the forum, a traveling historical exhibition titled “Freedom: A History of US” will be on display at Braden River High. The exhibit explores America’s struggle to extend the principal of freedom to all its citizens, from the founding of the country, through the Civil War period, to the battles for Civil Rights and up to today.