Former White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and former Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine A. Ferraro will kick off the 1996-97 season of UNLV's Barrick Lecture Series with a debate on Sept. 17.
"A View From Washington" is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall. The event is free, but tickets are required and should be picked up in advance at the Performing Arts Center box office at Ham Concert Hall. Tickets will be available beginning Sept. 7. For information on ticket availability, call 895-3801.
Co-hosts of "Crossfire," a political interview program which airs nightly on CNN, Ferraro and Sununu make a lively pairing.
Sununu is a former three-term New Hampshire governor, who began his first term of office on Jan. 6, 1983. While in office, he chaired both the Republican Governors' Association and the National Governors' Association.
Before becoming governor he had nearly 20 years of experience as an educator, engineer, small businessman, and community leader. From 1968 until 1973, he was associate dean of the College of Engineering at Tufts University and also served as an associate professor of mechanical engineering there. At the time of his election he was president of JHS Engineering Company and Thermal Research Inc.
In 1989, President George Bush selected him as his White House chief of staff, a position he held until 1992. In that post he oversaw the daily operations of the White House and its staff. He also served as counselor to the president.
Today, he is president of JHS Associates Ltd. and a partner in Trinity International Partners, a private financial firm. He also is a member of the Board of Trustees for the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
Sununu attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering there in 1966.
Ferraro shot to national prominence in 1984 when she was chosen as the Democratic vice presidential nominee on the ticket with Walter Mondale - earning her a place in history as the first woman vice-presidential candidate on a national party ticket.
At the time of her selection, she was a three-term congresswoman from Queens, N.Y. While in Congress she spearheaded efforts to achieve passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. She also sponsored the Women's Economic Equity Act, which ended pension discrimination against women, provided job options for displaced homemakers, and enabled homemakers to open IRAs.
Before entering politics, she taught elementary school for five years, while at the same time putting herself through Fordham Law School at night. After spending 13 years at home rearing her children, she joined the district attorney's office in Queens County where she started the Special Victims Bureau.
Today, Ferraro serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. She also served as a delegate to the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993 and was vice-chair of the U.S. delegation at the Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing in 1995.
She is the author of two books, Ferraro, My Story, which recounts the 1984 campaign, and Geraldine Ferraro: Changing History.
The Barrick Lecture Series, funded through a grant from philanthropist Marjorie Barrick, presents nationally and internationally known speakers from a variety of fields each year at UNLV. The presentations are always free and open to the public.
For additional information on Sununu and Ferraro's appearance at UNLV, call (702) 895-3801.
