Steve Forbes, Robert Reich To Speak At MSC Grand Opening Celebration
Steve Forbes is currently the CEO of Forbes Media and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine.
Since its beginning, the Memorial Student Center Grand Opening was intended to provide a sampling of the breadth of educational experiences available at Texas A&M University’s student union. In that spirit, the celebration’s organizers are pleased to announce that Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief and CEO of Forbes Media, and Robert Reich, an economist, professor and author who has served in the Ford, Carter, and Clinton administrations, will be the featured speakers at a program titled “Rise of the Rest – Embracing a Newer World Order.”
The first part of the program, a seminar with the two speakers, takes place at 3pm on Wednesday, September 5th in MSC 2401. The main lecture occurs that same day at 7:30pm in the MSC Bethancourt Family Ballroom.
Current Texas A&M University students will be admitted for free by presenting a valid TAMU student ID. Members of the public can purchase tickets in advance at the MSC Box Office for $15.
According to Sarah Armstrong, Chair of the MSC Wiley Lecture Series, one of the student programming committees responsible for producing this program, Mr. Forbes and Mr. Reich will discuss the impacts emerging economic powers such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China might have on “the international economy and American diplomatic relations.”
Citing a Pew Research Center poll indicating that 46% of Americans believe China will or already has replaced the United States as the world’s leading superpower, Armstrong says that the two speakers have also been asked to address “the potential consequences of America no longer being the world’s sole superpower and how the United States should respond to these changes.”
Robert Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor for President Bill Clinton, is an economist and professor at the University of California.
“Neither speaker is limited to these topics, however, and we are very excited to see how each speakers’ personal experiences will impact the program’s dialogue,” Armstrong says. “Mr. Reich and Mr. Forbes do hail from two different schools of thought, and I am looking forward to seeing how this will influence the program’s panel discussion and any dialogue that arises during the Q&A portion.”
Due to his background and history in financial journalism, Mr. Forbes will be able to provide an important perspective on the program’s topic. His family has educated the public about international finance for three generations, and he has been surrounded by analysis of international economics for his entire life.
He writes monthly editorials for Forbes, and has written several books, his most recent being How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today’s Economy, co-authored with Elizabeth Ames. In addition to his work for Forbes Media, Mr. Forbes ran for the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1996 and 2000.
Mr. Reich is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts about work and the economy. He is currently a Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, and in addition he provides weekly commentaries for public radio, writes a weekly, nationally-syndicated column for Tribune Media Services, and makes frequent appearances on CNBC.
Mr. Reich has also written fourteen books, the most recent being Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future. In 2008 Time magazine named him one of the ten most successful cabinet secretaries of the past century for his work as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration. That same year The Wall Street Journal named him one of the nation’s top ten thought leaders.
Mr. Forbes and Mr. Reich will deliver prepared remarks then participate in a panel discussion and a question and answer session at the main program, which will be held in the MSC Bethancourt Family Ballroom. They will also participate in a more intimate seminar beginning at 3pm in MSC 2401. Both programs are open to the public, but non-TAMU students must obtain tickets in advance.
MSC Wiley Lecture Series and MSC Student Conference On National Affairs (SCONA), co-sponsors of “Rise of the Rest,” are part of the Memorial Student Center student programs office. Both organizations are student-managed programming committees. Their mission is to enhance the educational and social environment at Texas A&M University and to provide students with leadership experience. More information on these two organizations can be found at http://www.mscc.tamu.edu/programs/.
The Memorial Student Center Grand Opening Celebration is a one-time weeklong “housewarming Hullabaloo” for the recently renovated student union at Texas A&M University. Grand Opening programs will take place from September 1st through the 8th. A full schedule of events is available at http://ourmsc.tamu.edu/grandopening.
