(COLUMBIA, Tenn. - April 14, 2014) - - - Columbia State Community College's Lyceum Committee is hosting a lecture by distinguished historian, Paula Fass on April 17 at 5:30 p.m. in the Ledbetter Auditorium.

The Margaret Byrne Professor of History Emerita at the University of California at Berkeley will discuss what is different about the way Americans treat their children and how that has affected children's experiences as they grow up.

Fass will examine the beginning of difference in the early American Republic and how that difference has affected the way Americans think about children and childrearing over the course of the past two centuries. Her talk will include contemporary questions about whether American children still have an important edge in the modern world of global competition.

Fass' books include "Children of a New World: Society, Culture, and Globalization," "Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America," "Outside In: Minorities and the Transformation of American Education," and "The Damned and the Beautiful: American Youth in the 1920s." She is currently completing "The End of American Childhood," a book about parents and children in American history from the early republic through the era of globalization.

Among her various honors and recognitions, Fass is a member of the American Philosophical Society, and has an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from Linkoping University in Sweden. She holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University, as well as a bachelor's degree in history from Barnard College.

The lecture is free and open to the public. The Ledbetter Auditorium is in the Frank G. Clement building on the Columbia campus, located at 1665 Hampshire Pike. The Lyceum is a cultural affairs committee that serves the students, faculty, staff and citizens interested in the arts in our community by presenting lectures, musical concerts, dramatic presentations and book chats. All Lyceum events are open to the public.

Columbia State is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton. As Tennessee's first community college, Columbia State is committed to increasing access and enhancing diversity at all five campuses. Columbia State is a member of the Tennessee Board of Regents, one of the largest higher education systems in the nation. For more information, please visit www.columbiastate.edu.

Tennessee's Community Colleges is a system of 13 colleges offering a high-quality, affordable, convenient and personal education to prepare students to achieve their educational and career goals in two years or less. We offer associate degree and certificate programs, workforce development programs and transfer pathways to four-year degrees. For more information, please visit us online at tncommunitycolleges.org.