2009-10 UB Distinguished Speakers Series Offers a Stellar Lineup

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo has announced its 23rd Annual Distinguished Speakers Series, which will run Sept. 16 through April 24.

Speakers will be former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; bestselling author, television personality and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson; political satirist Bill Maher; distinguished novelist and poet Margaret Atwood; Los Angeles Times columnist and author Steve Lopez; and provocative American intellectual, author and champion for racial justice, Cornel West.

"We're delighted to share this exciting line-up of speakers for the 2009-10 Distinguished Speakers Series," said UB President John B. Simpson. "From expanding the conversation about racial justice in the U.S., to advancing peaceful international relations, to unlocking the mysteries of the universe, the speakers who will be taking the stage this year represent some of the world's most influential public intellectuals and artists.

"Fostering these kinds of timely, consequential conversations about the issues and ideas that shape our world is what public universities like UB do best. We look forward to a year full of dialogue, debate and lively discussion."

Five of the seven lectures will be held in Alumni Arena on UB's North (Amherst) Campus. Talks by West and Atwood will take place in the Center for the Arts, also on the North Campus.

All lectures in the series will begin at 8 p.m. Series subscription purchases can be made immediately by downloading order forms from http://www.specialevents.buffalo.edu, or by stopping by the Center for the Arts Box Office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Individual lecture tickets will go on sale Aug. 10. For more information, call 645-3662.

"This year's series of speakers will make us read, make us think, make us care and perhaps even make us laugh," said Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs. "In these busy times, too often we fail to pause and reflect on our neighbors, our world and our universe. The 2009-10 lectures will give our campus and community a great opportunity to consider all that surrounds us."

The series will open Sept. 16 in UB's Alumni Arena with a talk by former UN Secretary General and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kofi Annan. Annan, the 2009 Undergraduate Student Choice Speaker, has had a distinguished career since leaving the UN post in 2007.

He chairs the committee for the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership; leads the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; is a member of the Global Elders, the international assemblage of group of elder statesmen, peace activists and human rights advocates; is president of the Global Humanitarian Forum in Geneva, and received the MacArthur Foundation Award for International Justice.

In 2008 Annan was named chancellor of the University of Ghana, and this year joined the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Global Fellows Program, which brings students together with global practitioners to share firsthand knowledge of experiences in the lives of international or public figures.

On Oct. 7, the series' Graduate Student Choice Speaker will be former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose lecture, sponsored by Hodgson Russ Attorneys LLP, will take place in Alumni Arena.

Blair currently serves as a representative of the Middle East Quartet, the foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is the subject of several books, most recently "Blair Unbound."

Journalist and novelist Steve Lopez will be the featured speaker on Oct. 28 in Alumni Arena. Lopez is the 2009 "UB Reads" author. His columns for the Los Angeles Times about his unlikely relationship with schizophrenic cello virtuoso Nathaniel Anthony Ayers inspired the film "The Soloist" and his book, "The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship and the Redemptive Power of Music."

The Feb. 5 speaker will be Cornel West, noted intellectual, essayist, public speaker and social activist, who will present the keynote address for UB's 34th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Event, to be held in the Center for the Arts.

West, professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University, is widely considered one of America's most important public intellectuals. West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his best-selling book, Race Matters. He has written 12 books of nonfiction for which he has won numerous awards, including the American Book Award.

On March 3 in the Center for the Arts, the speaker will be Canadian author, poet, critic and social campaigner Margaret Atwood, who is among the most-honored authors of fiction in recent history. She is the author of more than 35 volumes of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, The Robber Bride and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's newest novel, The Year of the Flood, is scheduled for release in September. Acclaimed for her talent for portraying both personal problems and those of universal concern, Atwood has been said to have an uncanny knack for writing books that anticipate the preoccupations of the public.

Acclaimed astrophysicist and charismatic television personality Neil deGrasse Tyson will speak on March 31 in Alumni Arena. Tyson is the host of "NOVA scienceNow" on PBS, which offers popular access to the frontiers of science today. He also is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium in the American Museum of Natural History.

Tyson is a monthly essayist for Natural History magazine and the author of several books including the 2007 New York Times bestseller "Death by Black Hole" and, most recently, the bestselling "The Pluto Files," in which he offers a lighthearted look at the planet Pluto from its discovery in 1930 to its recent demotion from planetary status.

UB will provide a limited number of free tickets for the Tyson lecture to area high schools. More information on this offer will be posted on the Special Events Web site in the spring: http://www.specialevents.buffalo.edu.

The series will close on April 24 in Alumni Arena with Bill Maher, political humorist, author and host of the Emmy-nominated series, "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO, which features interviews and panel discussions of current events with national figures in entertainment, politics and journalism. Prior to that, he hosted the popular and controversial ABC program "Politically Incorrect."

Maher is the author of four bestselling books including "New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer" and wrote and starred in the 2008 comedy/documentary "Religulous," which satirizes organized religion and religious belief.

Tickets for Annan, Blair, Lopez, Tyson and Maher will be available from the UB Alumni Arena Box Office, Tickets.com and all Tops Friendly Markets. Tickets for the West and Atwood lectures will be available through the UB Center for the Arts ticket office and TicketMaster.

The Distinguished Speakers Series benefits from the support of the program's presenting sponsor, the Don Davis Auto World Lectureship Fund, and from UB's Undergraduate Student Association (SA), the exclusive series sponsor for the 14th consecutive year.

Affiliate Series Sponsors include WBFO FM 88.7, WGRZ-TV Channel 2, The University Bookstore and the UB Graduate Student Association.

Contributing sponsors include the United University Professions Health Sciences Chapter, Time Warner Cable Business Class, Buffalo Niagara Marriott, Flynn & Friends Inc. Marketing & Communications, the UB Division of Athletics, the UB Center for the Arts and the UB Alumni Association.

Among this year's lecture sponsors are Hodgson Russ Attorneys LLP and UB's Minority Faculty and Staff Association.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.