Before assuming the presidency of Harvard University in 2007, Drew Gilpin Faust was a respected historian and author, with five books published and a sixth on the way. Now, she’ll be reprising that scholarly role in a very public manner.

Along with filmmaker Ric Burns, Faust will be traveling the East Coast to promote a new two-hour film, “Death and the Civil War,” premiering on Channel 2 on Sept. 18. She and Burns closely collaborated on the project, based on Faust’s 2008 best-selling book, “This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War.” Her travels will include visits to Civil War battlefields to discuss the film.