For Penn State Laureate Linda Patterson Miller, the phrase “home is where the heart is” rings true. Miller will visit Penn State Fayette, The Eberly campus, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, to discuss how members of America’s so-called “Lost Generation” of the 1920s searched for home as a physical place and a place in the heart. This free event is open to the public and will be held at 12:15 p.m. in Swimmer Hall in the Williams Building on campus.
In July, Miller began her tenure as the 2011-12 Penn State Laureate. Miller, a full-time professor of English at Penn State Abington, is the fourth person to hold this title and the first to be chosen from a Penn State campus other than University Park. Miller’s area of expertise includes writers and artists such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Leger. She has shared her expertise with the world of television by serving as a scholarly consultant on expatriate American writers and artists for “American Playhouse” and PBS. She was a guest scholar on Ernest Hemingway for C-SPAN’s ongoing series “American Writers: A Journey Through History.”
Miller said she aspires to bring the excitement of the humanities to her audience because of its power to transform lives and define what it means to be human. “I’m also excited to represent another facet of Penn State (at a campus other than University Park), which gives truth to the words ‘we are one university, geographically dispersed.’ It is an honor to be chosen,” Miller said.
During the course of the academic year, Miller will travel throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to share her perspective and insight on social, cultural and artistic topics.