British playwright George Bernard Shaw once said that England and America are two countries divided by a common language.

On Monday, March 21, Brett Mills comes to IU Kokomo to discuss another point of separation--television. Titled “A Brit's Perspective,” Mill's presentation will run from 2:30–4 p.m. in Kelley Student Center, Room 130.

The publicly funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) provides radio and television news, education and entertainment as a government service, whereas American television largely runs as a free market.

“You can't understand British identity unless you understand the BBC,” Mills said. His lecture will contrast U.S. and British news, comedies, television schedules and legislation, and “broadcasting as a social phenomenon overall.”

Mills is a lecturer in media and cultural studies at the University of Glamorgan, Wales. He graduated from Canterbury Christ Church College in 1994 and completed his Ph.D. on television sitcoms at the University of Kent, Canterbury, in 1997. His university teaching has covered consumer culture, animation, race and gender considerations in media, and the British and American viewpoints on the 2004 U. S. Presidential election.

Mills is one of several guest speakers invited to IU Kokomo as part of the American Democracy Project. ADP is a national, multi-campus initiative that seeks to offer undergraduates an intellectual and experiential understanding of citizen education.

To see a full schedule of activities for spring:

http://www.iuk.edu/adp