LEWISTON, Maine -- A Harvard political scientist will discuss civic life as the first talk in a Bates College lecture series, "The Quality of Our Civic Discourse and Civic Life," on Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Robert R. Putnam, the Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard, will discuss "Civic Engagement: What's Gone Wrong and How We Can Fix It?"

Putnam has served as chairman of Harvard's department of government, director of the Center for International Affairs and dean of the Kennedy School of Government. He is the author or co-author of seven books and more than 30 scholarly articles published in 10 languages, including "Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy" (1993) and "Double-Edged Diplomacy: International Bargaining and Domestic Politics" (1993). His most recent bookng Alone: Civic disengagement in America and what to do about it," raises questions about the fabric of civic life.

Putnam was educated at Swarthmore College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Yale University and has received honorary degrees from Swarthmore and Stockholm University. He has taught at the University of Michigan and served on the staff of the National Security Council.

"Many people sense a shift in the quality of our civic life," said James Carignan, dean of the college at Bates . "The nature of our life together is determined by our civic life. This series tries to look at what constitutes our lives together" he said.