Gorbachev, Kennedy top UTPA speakers series
EDINBURG — Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr. are slated to be featured in the fall portion of the University of Texas-Pan American’s 2007-08 Distinguished Speakers Series.
Gorbachev, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1985 until its collapse in 1991, is scheduled to visit Edinburg and Houston as part of a two-stop Texas trip, said Van A. Reidhead, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Largely credited in the West for helping to end the Cold War, Gorbachev is slated to make his first appearance in the Rio Grande Valley at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9.
Yuridia “Yuri” Bazan, 20, a senior international business major who attended school in Mexico, Rio Grande City, Roma and La Joya, said she was already excited about the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s visit.
“It’s somebody who has really made a difference in the world — someone who has done something good for humanity,” she said.
Bazan, a senator at-large in the campus Student Government Association, said she wants people to leave with open minds and an understanding of world politics after Gorbachev’s talk.
Kennedy, nephew of slain President John F. Kennedy and son of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, is an author, attorney, radio show host and clinical professor. He has also worked on presidential campaigns for his uncle Edward M. Kennedy, Al Gore and John Kerry. Robert Kennedy is slated to appear at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14.
Both Gorbachev’s and Robert Kennedy’s appearances will be in the UTPA Fine Arts Auditorium. Reidhead said the one or two series speakers who will appear in the spring will be announced this fall.
Students appointed to committees as part of the student government group solicit names of possible speakers and gauge interest among their peers on potential invitees for the series. The 4-year-old series is funded by student activities money, but admission is free and open to the public.
“Our first commitment is the students, then the faculty, because they teach them, then the community,” Reidhead said.
Past series speakers include Sanjay Gupta and Soledad O’Brien, both of CNN, and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post.
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Daniel Perry covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4454.
