A panel of national experts in politics and economics will speak at UNLV on March 26 as part of the Barrick Lecture Series.

The presentation, "Politics, the Economy, and the Presidency," will feature journalist Gloria Borger, economist Frank Cappiello, presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, and commentator and moderator Ray Suarez.

The event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall. It is free, but tickets are required. Tickets may be picked up at the Performing Arts Center box office at Ham Concert Hall beginning March 9. For more information, call 895-2787.

Borger joined U.S. News and World Report in 1986 as a political reporter and columnist. She is now a contributing editor to the magazine and writes the "On Politics" column every other week. She also is a special correspondent with CBS News and a regular panelist on PBS' "Washington Week in Review."

Previously, Borger served as Newsweek's chief congressional correspondent and was a reporter for the Washington (D.C.) Star.

She is a 1974 graduate of Colgate University, which she now serves as a member of its board of trustees.

Frank Cappiello, a premier lecturer on economics, is known for his ability to entertain and educate audiences about the complex and often confusing subjects of finance, investments, and the economy.

He is a regular panelist on the award-winning television program "Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser" and a frequent guest on ABC's "Good Morning America" and CNN's "Money Line" and "Financial's Market Sweep." He is founder and principal of Closed-End Fund Advisors, which provides global investment management services for smaller investors, and the author of four books, including Finding the Next Superstock.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration, Cappiello is the executive-in-residence at Mary Washington University.

Richard Norton Smith is a nationally recognized authority on the American presidency and was recently named the first director of the Robert J. Dole Institute for Public Policy at the University of Kansas. He is a regular guest on PBS' "News Hour with Jim Lehrer."

Smith previously served as executive director of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, as a distinguished professor of presidential history at Grand Valley State University, and as director of the Ford, Reagan, Eisenhower, and Hoover presidential libraries.

His first major book and biography, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times, was a finalist for the 1983 Pulitzer Prize. Other books by Smith include The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick and An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover.

After graduating from Harvard University in 1975, he worked in the White House as an intern and became a speechwriter for Presidents Reagan and Ford, Elizabeth Dole, and members of Congress.

Suarez joined "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," an award-winning program broadcast on more than 300 PBS stations, as a senior correspondent based in Washington, D.C. He is responsible for reporting, conducting studio discussions and debates, and filling in as backup newsanchor.

Previously, he was host of the National Public Radio program "Talk of the Nation" and was a correspondent, reporter, and producer for various television and radio stations in Chicago, Los Angeles, Rome, and London.

Suarez's essays and criticism have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and The Baltimore Sun. He is the author of The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration: 1966-1999.

He received a bachelor's degree from New York University and a master's degree from the University of Chicago.

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 free and open to the public.

For additional information, call 895-2787.