David Nevins, president of the Showtime Networks, will open the Draper Conference in Early American Studies with a keynote address on "American Lives and American Studies" at 5 p.m., October 9, in Konover Auditorium of the Dodd Center. As president of the networks, Nevins oversees the development and production of programming for the Showtime channels in every genre including comedy, drama, reality, specials, documentaries and films. A graduate of Amherst College in 1988, he began his career in television at NBC, where he developed and produced such popular series as ER, West Wing, Will and Grace, and Homicide. Then at Fox TV and as president of Imagine Television, he was responsible for the creation and production of such hits as 24, Arrested Development, and Friday Night Lights. Under his leadership at Showtime, the network has aired such critically acclaimed series as Homeland, Ray Donovan, and Masters of Sex. Nevins's talk will explore how the television shows he commissions grow out of the understanding of American life he developed as an undergraduate major in American Studies.
Nevins's talk, followed by a reception, is open to the University community. For more information on the Draper conference, which continues in Konover Auditorium on Friday, October 10, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., see http://draperconference2014.org .
For more information, contact: Robert Gross at robert.gross@uconn.edu