Shepherd's Phi Kappa Phi sponsors speaker April 21

ISSUED: 8 April 2009
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
(Shepherd's Phi Kappa Phi sponsors speaker April 21)

Shepherdstown, WV--Shepherd University's Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society will sponsor a lecture by Dr. Kevin Bales on Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies. Bales is president of Free the Slaves, U.S. sister organization of Anti-Slavery International, and professor emeritus of sociology at Rohampton University London and visiting professor at the Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, University of Hull.

His book "Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy" was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Bales won the Viareggio Prize for services to humanity in 2000. The film based on "Disposable People," which he co-wrote, won a Peabody Award and two Emmy Awards. Bales was awarded the Laura Smith Davenport Human Rights Award in 2005, the Judith Sargeant Murray Award for Human Rights in 2004, and the Human Rights Award of the University of Alberta in 2003.

Bales was a consultant to the U.N. Global Program on Human Trafficking and advised the U.S., British, Irish, Norwegian, and Nepali governments. In 2008 he was invited to address the Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Paris. Bales has published many books including "Understanding Global Slavery," "Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves," and "To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today's Slaves." This year Bales will publish "The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in the United States Today" and "Modern Slavery."

Bales is currently writing a book on the relationship of slavery and environmental destruction and a book exploring forced marriage worldwide with Jody Sarich. He earned his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics.

-30-YOUNG

Current Press Releases

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image.