Immigration will be the subject for the next Ruth Pauley Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College.

Wake Forest University professors David Coates and Peter Siavelis will present "Getting Immigration Right: What Every American Needs to Know."

Coates holds the Worrell Chair in Anglo-American Studies at Wake Forest. He was born in the United Kingdom and educated at the universities of York and Oxford.

He came to Wake Forest in 1999, having previously held personal chairs at the universities of Leeds (in contemporary political economy) and Manchester (in labor studies). He has written extensively on UK labor politics, contemporary political economy and U.S. public policy.

In December 2008, Coates' article "Darling, It's Entirely My Fault: Gordon Brown's Legacy to Alistair and to Himself" was named the year's best article in British Politics. The next year, Coates received the New American Media Group Award in the commentary/editorial (in-language) category for an op-ed piece titled "Que Pasa Supports Barack Obama's Candidacy," written jointly with Siavelis and Alejandro Manrique.

Coates is married to a native of New Jersey who now teaches English at Mount Tabor High School. He and Eileen have a son, Jonathan, who is currently attending Wake Forest as an undergraduate.

Siavelis is associate professor of political science at Wake Forest. He received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University and has held visiting appointments in Chile and Spain.

He has published on Latin American electoral and legislative politics in numerous journal articles and book chapters, including publications in comparative politics, comparative political studies, party politics, Latin American research review and Latin American politics and society.

He is author of "The President and Congress in Post-authoritarian Chile: Institutional Constraints to Democratic Consolid-ation." He is also co-editor of "Getting Immigration Right: What Every American Needs to Know" with David Coates. He recently edited "Pathways to Power: Political Recruitment and Candidate Selection in Latin America" with Scott Morgenstern.

The Ruth Pauley Lecture Series is sponsored by Sandhills Community College, the Moore County League of Women Voters, the Sandhills Branch of the American Association of University Women and the Moore County school system. Past speakers have included Sandra Day O'Connor, Newt Gingrich, George McGovern, Frank Deford and Jack Hanna.

Lectures are free and open to the public with no tickets required. Humpy Wheeler will discuss "The History of NASCAR in North Carolina" at the next lecture on Nov. 15.

Anyone needing additional information can call (910) 245-3132.