FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oct. 29, 2008

Contact: K.E. Schwab  

724.738.2199

 karl.schwab@sru.edu

SRU’s Pearcy takes post as joint historian with State Department, CIA

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. –  Thomas Pearcy, professor of history at Slippery Rock University since 1998, has been appointed joint historian for the U.S. Department of State and the Central Intelligence Agency.

            He will leave SRU at the end of the semester to begin is new job in Washington, D.C.

Pearcy will become the only joint historian in the entire federal system. He will serve as a liaison between the two federal agencies.

“My primary responsibilities will be to help the Foreign Relations of the United States publication be as transparent as possible without jeopardizing national security or the well-being of individuals involved with our nation's diplomacy and intelligence services,” Pearcy said.

“In this new capacity, I will spend much of my time in the sealed vaults housed at each of our presidential libraries, helping orchestrate conferences at the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence and similar work. We also work with the intelligence services of other countries, when necessary, to help insure our published accounts reflect both sides of a given story,” he said.

Slippery Rock University is Pennsylvania’s premier public residential university. Slippery Rock University provides students with a comprehensive learning experience that intentionally combines academic instruction with enhanced educational and learning opportunities that make a positive difference in their lives.