hat do politician Mikhail Gorbachev, journalist Cokie Roberts, author Mary Pipher, and historian Michael Beschloss all have in common?
They will all speak to students, faculty, and staff from the college, as well as the Greensboro community at large over the course of the 2004 – 2005 academic year.
On Feb. 19, the college announced that Gorbachev, Roberts, Pipher, and Beschloss will speak in the Bryan Lecture Series on the theme of “Challenges Facing Democracy.”
“We’re looking forward to focusing on challenges facing democracy with the four Bryan Series speakers next year,” Ty Bucker, Director of College Relations, said. “In a presidential election year, we believe this theme will resonate with many people on and off campus.”
For the first time in the history of the speaker series, the college will charge admission to one of the events. Gorbachev’s talk, to be given on Oct. 6, will take place off-campus at the Greensboro War Memorial Auditorium.
Out of the 2,400 seats available in the auditorium, 1,000 premium seats will be reserved for students, faculty, and staff from the college at no cost. The remaining seats will be available to the public at prices of $8 for students and senior and $15 for adults.
This installation of the series will also be the first to not occur on the college’s campus.
“All previous 14 Bryan Series events have been held in Dana, and three of the four next year will be held there (as well),” Buckner said. “Dana is the home of the Bryan Series. However, when we have the opportunity to host a former head of state … we will consider various options in order to give the greatest opportunity for people to hear that person speak.”
Roberts, Pipher, and Beschloss will all speak in Dana Auditorium. Roberts will speak Sept. 30, Pipher on Oct. 26, and Beschloss on Feb. 10, 2005.
“I think that it’s really a wonderful opportunity for the college and the city because (this) is a serious topic that needs to be understood and examined by the whole community,” senior Laura Myerchin said of Pipher. Myerchin is one of several members of the college community who recommended that the college extend an invitation for Pipher to come speak.
Pipher’s book Reviving Ophelia, which addresses the state of adolescent girls in U.S. society, was followed by The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community, which has been selected by the Greensboro Public Libraries for its “One City, One Book” program. Reviving Ophelia also sparked a smattering of similar books, in Sara Shandler’s Ophelia Speaks, Nina Shandler’s Ophelia’s Mom, and Cheryl Dellasega’s Surviving Ophelia.
Gorbachev is the former president of the former Soviet Union who is often credited with ending the Cold War. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. He also served as the General Secretary of the former U.S.S.R.’s communist party from 1985 until 1991.
Gorbachev stands for what has been called “democratic socialism” or “socialism with a human face” and currently heads the Gorbachev Foundation, Green Cross International, and the Civic Forum Movement.
“Gorbachev is an ideal visitor for Guilford – he’s like the architect of peace for our time.” first-year Aaron DeMoss said.
Roberts has won numerous awards, including two Emmys, during her 30 years in the field of broadcast journalism. She has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and was cited by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.
In addition, Roberts is the author of We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters, which is about women’s roles and relationships throughout American history. She also co-wrote From this Day Forward with Steven Roberts, her husband. Roberts’s latest book, Founding Mothers, will be published in April.
Beschloss is a historian specializing in the U.S. presidency and U.S. politics. He has authored seven books, including The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963; Eisenhower: A Centennial Life; and At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War with Strobe Talbott.
The Crisis Years, Beschloss’ first book, was published in 1980, and began as his senior thesis at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts
Beschloss is a trustee of the White House Historical Association, the National Archives Foundation, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (Monticello), the Urban Institute, and the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs.
The Bryan speaker series has brought a number of high-profile names to the college since its inception in 1996 when trustee Joseph Bryan gave the college an endowment of $1 million to bring speakers to campus. The series has an annual budget of approximately $150,000 to spend on speakers, and the college tries to arrange speakers along a theme, maximizing the impact of the speakers.
The most well known speakers to visit Greensboro through the Bryan speaker series thus far include New York Times columnist and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman in 1996, and four-star general and current Secretary of State Colin Powell 1999. Former senator and presidential candidate Bill Bradley and best-selling author Doris Kearns Goodwin both spoke at the college in 2000.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited in 2001, and social critic and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader debated with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Costa Rica Oscar Arias in 2002.
Most recently, Pulitzer Prize winner and director Edward Albee, documentary maker Ken Burns and Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier have spoken this past semester as a part of the Year of the Arts.