TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Syndicated columnist George F. Will will deliver the Gloria and John L. Blackburn Academic Symposium keynote speech at the Blackburn Institute’s 2018 Annual Symposium at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, in the Ferguson Student Center Ballroom on The University of Alabama campus.
The keynote speech, part of a two-day symposium by UA’s Blackburn Institute, is free and open to the public.
The theme of the 2018 Annual Symposium, ”Navigating Change: Governing, Leading, and Advocating,” highights the challenge of making a positive impact during tumultuous political and social change. Attendees will hear from speakers and panelists working to improve lives in Alabama, including those of the majority or minority parties, as well as issue advocates from outside the political system.
Content sessions will offer perspectives on how to map the landscape of an issue to understand magnet factors — things likely to pull people toward change — and fear factors that create resistance to change, and to engage skeptics in change processes.
Will’s newspaper column has been syndicated by The Washington Post since 1974. Today, it appears twice weekly in approximately 500 newspapers in the United States and in Europe. In addition, he serves as a contributor for MSNBC and NBC News. In 1976, he became a regular contributing editor of Newsweek magazine, for which he provided a bimonthly essay until 2011.
In 1977, he won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his newspaper columns. Altogether eight collections of Will’s Newsweek and Washington Post columns have been published, the most recent being ”One Man’s America.”
Will was born in Champaign, Illinois, educated at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Oxford University and Princeton University, where he earned his doctorate. He has taught political philosophy at Michigan State University and the University of Toronto.
The Blackburn Institute, which has more than 40 participating students, is a leadership development and civic engagement program focused on improving Alabama. Through its work with students selected to participate in the Blackburn Institute, alumni (Fellows) and advisory board members, the institute develops a network of leaders who have a clear understanding of the state’s challenges.
Selected students participate in a one-year curriculum of activities and events, after which they continue their involvement for their remaining time at the Capstone.
Upon graduation, participants earn recognition as Blackburn Fellows and begin their work through professional and civic involvement in their home communities and throughout the state, both individually and through the Fellows Involvement Network. Supported by an advisory board of established leaders committed to the state of Alabama, the Blackburn Institute promotes change through an intergenerational network.
Contact
Richard LeComte, department of communications, richard.lecomte@ua.edu, 205-348-3782