LAKELAND, Fla. (Nov. 1, 2006) — Florida Southern College’s Center for Florida History welcomes James Gregory Cusick to the Florida Lecture Series on Nov. 16. Cusick will discuss “East Florida’s Other War of 1812” at 7 p.m. in the William M. Hollis Seminar Room on the Florida Southern campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

“We are delighted to have Jim Cusick with us.  His path-breaking research on “Florida’s Patriot War” uncovers America’s first covert operation—a fiasco that turned out to be just as embarrassing for the Madison Administration as the Bay of Pigs Invasion was for the Kennedy Administration,” said James Denham, professor of history and director of FSC’s Center for Florida History.

Cusick, a specialist in the study of the Spanish colonial period in Florida, holds degrees in journalism (B.S.) and anthropology (M.A., Ph.D.). He has lived in Florida since high school and is a long-time resident of both St. Johns County and Alachua County. For the past eight years, Cusick has been a curator and archivist for the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History in the department of special collections at the University of Florida’s George Smathers Library. He serves on the board of directors for the Gulf South History and Humanities Conference, the St. Augustine Archaeological Association and the Florida Historical Society. Cusick also serves as president of the Seminole Wars Historic Foundation and is a research associate at the St. Augustine Historical Society. His first book, “The Other War of 1812” (2003), was published by the University Press of Florida and is being reissued in paperback by the University of Georgia Press.

About the Florida Lecture Series 
The Florida Lecture Series is produced by the Center for Florida History under the direction of Dr. James M. Denham. The program brings speakers to the Lakeland campus who approach the issue of “Florida Life and Culture” from a wide range of disciplines, including history, public affairs, law, sociology, criminology, anthropology, literature, music and art. Its overall objective is to create an opportunity for members of the community, faculty, and student body to listen to, interact with and learn from leading scholars and specialists of the state’s history and culture.

About Florida Southern College
Founded in 1885, Florida Southern College is a private, comprehensive, United Methodist college with a liberal arts core. The college maintains its commitment to academic excellence through 38 undergraduate majors and distinctive graduate programs in business administration, education, and nursing. Florida Southern has a 13:1 student/faculty ratio, provides strong student/faculty mentorship programs, boasts 25 NCAA Division II national championships, and is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top ten Southern Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelors institutions and by the Princeton Review as a “Best Southeastern College.” Located on scenic Lake Hollingsworth, Florida Southern is the home of the world’s largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.