{"id":103705,"date":"2020-11-04T19:57:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T00:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=103705"},"modified":"2020-11-04T19:57:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T00:57:36","slug":"david-witwer-explores-the-enduring-mystery-of-jimmy-hoffas-disappearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=103705","title":{"rendered":"David Witwer explores the enduring mystery of Jimmy Hoffa\u2019s disappearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: David Witwer, professor of American studies at Penn State Harrisburg\u2019s School of Humanities, is the Penn State Laureate for the 2020-21 academic year. (Image: Penn State)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By: Savannah Malesky<\/a><\/p>\n

David Witwer, Penn State Laureate for the 2020-21 academic year, will present \u201cSearching for Jimmy Hoffa: The disappearance of America\u2019s most notorious labor leader and why it still matters today,\u201d from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, via Zoom. This event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

An annual faculty honor chartered in 2008, the Penn State Laureate travels the commonwealth to bring greater visibility to the arts, humanities and the University, as well as to their own work. As Penn State\u2019s laureate for the 2020-21 academic year, Witwer, professor of American studies at Penn State Harrisburg\u2019s School of Humanities, will draw on his research on corruption, organized crime and labor racketeering.<\/p>\n

Focusing on Witwer\u2019s current book project, \u201cSearching for Jimmy Hoffa,\u201d will trace the history of what is known about James R. Hoffa\u2019s disappearance, his involvement with organized crime and what his career reveals about working-class attitudes toward corruption. Witwer\u2019s presentation will connect those details to broader issues intrinsic to the humanities; he plans to generate conversations about what past confrontations with corruption can teach people today.<\/p>\n

Witwer holds a doctorate and master’s degree in history from Brown University and received his undergraduate degree from DePauw University. After college, Witwer worked in the New York County District Attorney\u2019s Office as an investigative analyst on assignment with the New York State Organized Crime Task Force, exploring the mob\u2019s role in the construction industry. Drawing on this work, Witwer later served with the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York, working with the Office of Investigations in the Teamsters Union. Witwer has authored three books on labor racketeering: \u201cCorruption and Reform in the Teamsters Union\u201d (2003); \u201cShadow of the Racketeer: Scandal in Organized Labor\u201d (2009); and most recently, \u201cMurder in the Garment District: The Grip of Organized Crime and the Decline of Labor in the United States\u201d (2020). He currently serves on the editorial board of the journal \u201cLabor History.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witwer\u2019s presentation will be followed by a brief Q&A session moderated by Nichola Gutgold, Penn State Lehigh Valley communication arts and sciences professor. Follow the\u00a0Zoom address<\/a>\u00a0(passcode 326603) to join the webinar.<\/p>\n

For questions and more information, contact Nichola Gutgold at\u00a0dgn2@psu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nPenn State Lehigh Valley
\n2809 Saucon Valley Road
\nCenter Valley, PA 18034
\n <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Featured Image: David Witwer, professor of American studies at Penn State Harrisburg\u2019s School of Humanities, is the Penn State Laureate for the 2020-21 academic year. (Image: Penn State) By: Savannah … Continue reading David Witwer explores the enduring mystery of Jimmy Hoffa\u2019s disappearance<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/David-Witwer.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/103706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}