Lecture series to feature Leon Panetta, Rigoberta Menchú

In November the University Lecture Series will feature former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú .

The programs are sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, the University Student Union, Associated Students, Inc., Coke and James Hallowell, KJWL, Borders and Piccadilly Inn Hotels.

On Thursday Nov. 13, Leon Panetta will speak on "The Challenges of Leadership in Our Time." As White House chief of staff during the Clinton administration, Panetta earned the respect and high regard of his political colleagues and the press. Credited with bringing stability to the White House, Panetta had been director of the Office of Management and Budget and served in the House of Representatives for 16 years.

Panetta is director of the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy at CSU Monterey Bay, and was named a Distinguished Scholar by the Chancellor of the California State University system. He is chairman of the Board of Directors at the Center for National Policy in Washington, D.C. and of Pew Ocean Commission. He serves on the Board of Directors for the New York Stock Exchange, the Fleishman-Hillard International Advisory board, along with local and other national boards.

Rigoberta Menchú, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, will speak on Tuesday Nov. 18 about her life in Guatemala.   Menchú, a native of Guatemala, is known as a leading advocate of Indian rights and ethno-cultural reconciliation, not only in Guatemala but also in the Western Hemisphere.

Of Mayan descent, she and her family were caught in Guatemala's bloody civil war. Protesters against human-rights abuses, her father, mother and younger brother were killed by Guatamalan soldiers, and in 1981 Menchú fled the country and settled in Mexico.

At home and abroad, she has worked to secure and protect the rights of indigenous peoples in her country and to promote intercultural peace. For her efforts, Menchú was awarded the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize.

She used the monetary award that accompanied the Nobel Peace Prize to start the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation. Her life story, " I, Rigoberta Menchú ," attracted considerable international attention.

Advance tickets for the University Lecture Series are available at the University Student Union Information Center and Borders in Riverpark.   Tickets will be sold on a seating space available basis in the Satellite Student Union Box Office from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on the evening of the lectures.

Single-event tickets are $10 general admission; $6 Fresno State faculty, staff, Alumni Association members and seniors; $5 elementary and secondary students; and $2 Fresno State students. Ticket prices on the day of the event increase by $2 for general admission, faculty, staff and Alumni Association members.

For further information contact the University Lecture Series office at 8-2636 or see www.csufresno.edu/universitylecture .