Pioneering astronaut John Glenn, former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anna Quindlen are among the distinguished leaders and scholars who will appear at Elon University during the 2004-05 academic year.
Glenn piloted the Mercury “Friendship 7” spacecraft and became the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. He went on to long career in public service, serving as U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1998. In October 1998 at the age of 77, he returned to space with the crew of the Discovery space shuttle, becoming the oldest man ever to fly in space. Glenn is a World War II and Korean War combat veteran who holds the Air Medal with 18 Clusters for his combat service and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions. He will speak at Elon’s spring Convocation for Honors on April 14.
Whitman will be Elon’s Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership, March 1-3. She served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003. Prior to leading the EPA, Whitman served as governor of New Jersey, the first female ever to be elected to that state’s highest office. She is currently working on her first book, “It’s My Party Too: The Education of a Moderate.”
Elon will welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Anna Quindlen for its Fall Convocation/Baird Pulitzer Prize Lecture at 6 p.m., Monday, Sept. 27 in Koury Center. Quindlen was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1992 for her work at the New York Times. She is well known for writing Newsweek’s popular column “The Last Word,” as well as being the author of four best-selling novels including “One True Thing,” which was made in to a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep and Rene Zellweger. In addition, Quindlen is the author of a collection of essays and two children’s books.
Also appearing at Elon in September will be author Barbara Ehrenreich and scientist David Suzuki.
Ehrenreich, an award-winning political essayist and social critic, is the author of the critically acclaimed “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America,” which has been chosen as Elon University’s common reading for 2004. During her research for the book, Ehrenreich moved across the country working as a waitress, hotel maid, cleaning woman, nursing home aide and as a Wal-Mart sales clerk. She quickly discovered that she was barely able to afford to live without holding down at least two of these low-wage jobs, which require exhausting mental and physical effort. Ehrenreich’s Liberal Arts Forum Lecture is at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 14 in the Koury Center.
Award-winning broadcaster David Suzuki will deliver the Voices of Discovery lecture at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29 in the Center for the Arts. His talk is titled “The Challenge of the 21st Century: Setting the Real Bottom Line.” An internationally respected geneticist, Suzuki is well known to millions as the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s popular science
television series “The Nature of Things.” He has received consistently high acclaim for his 30 years of work in broadcasting, including “The Brain,” a five-part series for the Discovery Channel.
In November, Eric Schlosser, investigative reporter and author of “Fast Food Nation” and “Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market,” will join the distinguished list of Elon’s Liberal Arts Forum lecturers. In “Fast Food Nation,” Schlosser uncovered the inner workings of the fast food industry and explored its profound effect on American society. Schlosser’s latest New York Times bestseller focuses on marijuana, migrant labor and pornography on the black market. He is currently at work on a book about the American prison system. Schlosser’s talk will be at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 16 in the Center for the Arts.
For more information on these events, contact Elon University’s Office of Cultural Programs, (336) 278-5605.