Nomination of William J. Bennett To Be Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities

The President today announced his intention to nominate William J. Bennett to be Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities. He would succeed Joseph D. Duffey.

Since 1979 Dr. Bennett has been president and director of the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, N.C. He is also an adjunct associate professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and at North Carolina State University (Raleigh). He was executive director of the National Humanities Center in 1976-79. Previously he was assistant to the president and assistant professor of philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts, Boston University, in 1972-76. He has taught law and philosophy at the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of Texas, Harvard University, the University of Wisconsin, and Boston University.

Dr. Bennett has written a number of articles in professional journals such as the Harvard Civil Rights and Stanford Law Review, and for major news magazines on subjects pertaining to social issues. He is a trustee of the Institute for Educational Affairs and the Committee for a Free World, a member of the National Research Council of the National Science Foundation and a special panel of the National Academy of Education.

He graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. (B.A., 1965); the University of Texas, Austin, Tex. (Ph.D., 1967); and Harvard Law School (J.D., 1971). He resides in Chapel Hill, N.C., and was born July 31, 1943.