Gary T. Marx, the Anna Deane Carlson Visiting Professor in Social Science in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University, will present a public lecture entitled”Windows Into the Soul: Surveillance and Society in an Age of High Technology.”

The event will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Erickson Alumni Center. Dr. Marx will examine social, cultural, comparative, ethical, legal and policy questions arising from recent developments in society, especially new surveillance and communication technologies (video, DNA , biometrics, computer dossiers, cell phones, electronic location, Internet and work monitoring, heat and motion sensors, drug testing, etc.).

In recent years, issues dealing with the discovery and protection of personal information have become increasingly important. Such issues touch many disciplines and fields, including sociology and anthropology, history, political science, public administration, psychology, social welfare, geography, economics, philosophy, law, medicine, business, engineering and computer science.

“We are pleased to have such an outstanding social scientist speaking on such an important and timely topic,”said M. Duane Nellis, dean of the Eberly College.”Because of his reputation and the topic he will be exploring, we expect a significant crowd to attend this public lecture.”

Marx is the author of several books including: Protest and Prejudice, Undercover: Police Surveillance in America, and Collective Behavior and Social Movements. He is the editor of Racial Conflict, Muckraking Sociology, Undercover: Police Surveillance in Comparative Perspective and other other journals. He received the Outstanding Book Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and was the American Sociological Association’s Jensen Lecturer for 1989-1990. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Crime, Law and Deviance section, the Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, and the Bruce C. Smith Award for research achievement. His work has been translated into many other languages and has been printed in over 250 books, monographs and periodicals.

In addition to being a widely experienced teacher and lecturer, Marx also has received grants to further his research from organizations such as the National Institute of Justice, National Science Foundation, the Twentieth Century Fund, the Whiting Foundation and the German government. He has also been on panels or a consultant for the House Committee on the Judiciary, the House Science Committee, the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, the General Accounting Office, the Office of Technology Assessment, the Justice Department and other federal agencies, state and local governments.

The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is utilizing Marxs talents in a variety of ways. He is teaching a course,”Issues in Crime and Justice,”with an enrollment of 50 undergraduate and graduate students. He is also giving informal presentations to groups of interested faculty and students in a number of units, including the School of Applied Social Sciences, the Department of Political Science, the Department of Computer Science, the Forensic and Investigative Sciences Program and the College of Business and Economics.

In the words of Lawrence T. Nichols, interim chair of the Division of Sociology and Anthropology,”Gary Marx is an exemplary colleague, a committed teacher, and a dedicated researcher, who shows how the sociological imagination can provide valuable insights into the most important issues of the day.”