Benjamin Hunnicutt, professor of leisure studies, University of Iowa

Benjamin Hunnicutt, renowned author and scholar in the field of leisure studies, will speak at the Georgia Museum of Art on Thursday, April 17 as part of the Ramsey Lecture Series.

A professor of leisure studies at the University of Iowa, Hunnicutt’s research investigates how people divide their lives into periods of work and spare time, particularly focusing on the lengthening of work hours throughout the past century. He is author of two books, Kellogg's Six-Hour Day and Work Without End: Abandoning Shorter Hours for the Right to Work, as well as numerous book chapters and scholarly articles.

Hunnicutt’s work traces the origins of how Americans have traded leisures for luxuries to three different sources: The emergence of commercialism in the 1920s, politics and President Franklin Roosevelt’s response to the Great Depression, and a change in values and in our culture—the fading of the traditional vision of the American Dream as more and more time to live, and less and less time devoted to making a living.

Hunnicutt is a member of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, the American Association for State and Local History, the National Recreation and Park Association and the Organization of American Historians. He is past co-director of the Society for the Reduction of Human Labor. Hunnicutt received his Ph.D. in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The annual Ramsey Lecture was developed and originally funded by Ramsey Center programs within the College of Education, including recreation and leisure studies, kinesiology and health promotion and human behavior (now a part of the College of Public Health). This year’s lecture will be held at 3:30 p.m. A reception follows the lecture.

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