FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 23, 2001 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 EXPERT ON GENOCIDE TO SPEAK AT DRAKE MARCH 2 Ervin Staub, author of "The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence," will speak at Drake University on Friday, March 2. His lecture, titled "The Origins of Ethnic Conflict and Genocide," will start at 8 p.m. in Bulldog Theater in Olmsted Center, 29th Street and University Avenue. Staub, who teaches psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will be introduced by former Iowa Gov. Robert D. Ray. The lecture, sponsored by Drake University and the U.S. Institute of Peace, is free and open to the public. The U.S. Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan federal institution created and funded by Congress to strengthen the nation's capacity to promote the peaceful resolution of international conflict. Professor Staub also will be participating in a faculty workshop at Drake on Ethnic Conflict, Accountability and Reconciliation. Approximately 25 faculty from Drake and other Iowa colleges and universities will be involved in the workshop. Staub's book on "The Roots of Evil" was the inspiration for a 1998 television series shown on the Discovery Channel and the BBC. The book, published in 1989, explores the roots of the Holocaust, the genocide against the Armenians, the "autogenocide" in Cambodia and the evolution of caring and non-aggressive persons and societies. Following the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, Staub created a training program for all police officers in California to reduce the unnecessary use of force. He is now writing a book about raising caring and non-violent children. In addition, he is working on a project in Rwanda on healing, forgiveness and reconciliation in the wake of that country's genocide. Staub also was a co-organizer of an international conference in Sweden in 1997 on "Beyond Lamentation: Options for Preventing Genocidal Violence." A native of Hungary, Staub earned his bachelor's and doctorate degrees from Stanford University. He taught at Harvard University and has been a visiting professor at Stanford, the University of Hawaii and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He joined the University of Massachusetts in 1971. For more information about Staub's lecture, call (515) 271-1844.