ITHACA, N.Y. -- Distinguished scholars of both intellectual and cultural history will gather to discuss the current and future state of their fields in relation to leading-edge currents in critical theory during a Department of History conference, "Intellectual History/Cultural History/ Critical Theory," to be held April 29-30 at the A.D. White House on the Cornell University campus.

All panels will be free and open to the public, who are invited to question scholars following their presentations.

Events begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, April 29, with a panel led by Susan Buck-Morss, professor of government. Presenters include Scott Specter, University of Michigan; Harry Liebersohn, University of Illinois; and Dominick LaCapra, professor of history and comparative literature and the Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies at Cornell. A reception will follow.

The panels reconvene Saturday, April 30, at 9:30 a.m., and presenters include: Carolyn Dean, Brown University; Harold Mah, Queens College; and Martin Jay, University of California-Berkeley.

Following a lunch break, Laurence Moore, the H.A. Newman Professor of American Studies at Cornell, will chair the third panel discussion at 2 p.m. Presenters include: Nancy Partner, McGill University; Anson Rabinbach, Princeton University; and Michael Steinberg, Cornell professor of history. The conference will conclude with a roundtable discussion at 4:45 p.m., led by Mabel Berezin, Cornell associate professor of sociology.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Society for the Humanities at Cornell.