News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 3/6/03   Click on image for publication quality photo ANDERSON-SNYDER LECTURE FEATURES NOVELIST JAMES P. WILCOX        HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s second annual Anderson-Snyder Lecture will feature critically acclaimed novelist and Hammond native James Wilcox.        The lecture, sponsored by the Southeastern’s chapter of the national Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, is scheduled for 2 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, in Pottle Music Building Auditorium.  It is open to the public as well as Southeastern faculty, staff, and students.           Wilcox, a former editor at Random House and Doubleday, is now the director of Louisiana State University’s creative writing program. His eighth novel will be published in September.          A 1986 recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Award, Wilcox’s acclaimed works include “North Gladiola,” “Plain and Normal,” and “Modern Baptists,” a novel included in Harold Bloom's “The Western Canon.”          Wilcox has personal ties to Southeastern where his father, James H. Wilcox, served as head of the music department and dean of the College of Humanities.         The Anderson-Snyder lecture series was inaugurated in 2001 by Hammond natives Perry A. Snyder, executive director of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, and his brother, Marshall M. Snyder, now an attorney in Nashville, Tenn.  Both are graduates of Southeastern and were initiated into Phi Kappa Phi at the university.        The series honors the Snyders' maternal grandparents, Smylie S. and Lucille G. Anderson, and their parents, Harry and Dorothy Jane Snyder. Harry Snyder was captain of the 1941 Lions football team.          Smylie Anderson, a 1906 graduate of the Tulane University School of Medicine, was  among the civic leaders in the 1920s who helped convince the Louisiana legislature of the need  for a college in Hammond.  His wife Lucille and son-in-law, Harry Snyder, were both educators along with the Anderson's three daughters, who also studied at Southeastern.         The lecture series also recognizes the role that Southeastern's Phi Kappa Phi chapter has played as the university's standard bearer for honor and excellence, said Chapter President Joan Faust of the university’s English Department faculty.  Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest, largest, and most selective all-discipline honor society, approved a chapter for Southeastern in 1956.         Southeastern President Randy Moffett, a member of Phi Kappa Phi, will host a reception following the lecture for all Phi Kappa Phi members and guests at Clark Hall Gallery.        For additional information, contact Faust at 985-549-5764 or jfaust@selu.edu. Return to News Releases