Bulletin News

09/23/2009 

Cornell University Historian Glenn Altschuler will address "The G.I. Bill: The Mother of All Stimulus Packages" on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at SUNY Cortland.

The discussion, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Corey Union Exhibition Lounge, is the first in the series with the "Walls" theme, presented by the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee. The series begins a yearlong examination of the walls we build and tear down in our efforts to create community. Altschuler's visit is co-sponsored by the Political Science Department, student Political Science Association, Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee, and the Campus Artist and Lecture Series. The talk is free and open to the public.

Altschuler, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell, recently co-authored with fellow Cornell historian Stuart Blumin, The G.I. Bill: A New Deal for Veterans, published by Oxford University Press. Copies will be available for purchase at Altschuler's talk.

The G.I. Bill of 1944 represented a sweeping and audacious effort by the government to not only support millions of returning World War II veterans, but to provide them with the chance to better their lives, and society as a whole, by providing education funding, job training, unemployment compensation and housing loans. This ambitious program transformed the American post-war landscape, literally creating the modern "knowledge society."

The G.I. Bill represented the government's effort to break down barriers between millions of returning veterans in order to help re-integrate them into civilian life.

Altschuler currently serves as dean of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions at Cornell, a position he has held since 1991. He is the author of nine books and dozens of scholarly articles. In addition, he has written hundreds of book reviews for newspapers throughout the United States and abroad, and was a regular columnist for the Education Life Section of The New York Times.

Altschuler received his B.A. from Brooklyn College and his master's and Ph.D. from Cornell, where he has taught and served in various administrative positions since 1981. Altschuler has won awards for teaching and advisement and received numerous research fellowships and grants. Among his other books are All Shook Up: How Rock 'n' Roll Changed America; Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the 19th Century; and Changing Channels: America in TV Guide.

For more information on the talk, contact Robert Spitzer, political science, at (607) 753-4106.