Providence, RI -- Dr. James F. Ross, professor of philosophy and law at the University of Pennsylvania and a scholar in the philosophical and theological doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas, will present Providence College's St. Thomas Aquinas Annual Lecture on Friday, January 28, at 3:00 p.m. in Slavin Center '64 Hall on campus. The lecture, which is sponsored by the Office of the President and the Department of Theology, annually honors the feast day of the 13th century philosopher and theologian. The event is free and open to the public.

Ross' lecture, "Law and Morality: Mixes and Misses," will be a discussion of overlap and gaps among enactment, interpretation, enforcement, and application of United States law and of morality. He will apply some of Aquinas' ideas to show both the overlap and the space between law and morality, as well as address the role of natural law theory.

A faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania for more than four decades, Ross' areas of research are medieval philosophy, metaphysics, and the philosophy of religion. His research and writing have focused extensively on Aquinas and Thomism, as well as the Judaeo-Christian tradition. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He earned his doctorate from Brown University, and juris doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1975.

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