Andy Card leads off "Talking Politics" speakers series
In the inaugural lecture of its Talking Politics Speakers Series, the UMass Donahue Institute’s Civic Initiative, in collaboration with the Amherst Campus College of Social & Behavioral Science, brought former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to the UMass Boston and UMass Amherst Campus. During his two days in Massachusetts Mr. Card spoke with small groups of students, faculty, and alumni and was the guest of honor at a dinner celebrating the launch of the Talking Politics series. He capped his visit to the Amherst campus with a public lecture attended by a group of 500 people. In addition, Mr. Card spoke to Dr. Michael Hannahan’s Presidency Class. The connection of a college class on the Presidency and a former Presidential Chief of Staff is exactly the kind of goal the Talking Politics Series is designed to accomplish.
Talking Politics stemmed from a group of alumni and friends of UMass Amherst who wanted to raise the level and quality of political discussion on campus. They saw a need to offer students and the campus community speakers from a variety of political view points who could share their insight into the political world where policy issues are often decided. The hope is to broaden viewpoints of students, expose them to active and accomplished politicians on a personal level, and help them understand how to better discuss and think about ideas from divergent perspectives.
To make this happen, these alumni and friends established a fund with the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences to begin this speaker series under the direction of the UMass Civic Initiative. The goal is to bring intriguing and thoughtful political practitioners to campus each semester, give students broad access to them, and offer the campus community new opportunities to think about and discuss politics.
For more information please contact:
Lonce Sandy-Bailey
(413) 577-4330
E-mail
April 11, 2007
