Inside Iowa State

April 28, 2006

Newt Gingrich will give guest lecture April 28

by Mike Krapfl

Newt Gingrich -- speaker of the U.S. House from 1995 to 1999 and Time magazine's 1995 "Man of the Year" -- will address an Iowa State globalization class.

Gingrich's lecture, "American Strategies for Success in Competing with China and India in a Globalized World Market," will be from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 28, in the Howe Hall auditorium.

The lecture is free and open to the public. An electronic audio and video recording of Gingrich's lecture will be available on the Internet through iTunes that afternoon. Information and links are available at http://www.ede.iastate.edu/iTunes.asp.

Gingrich will address the "Technology, Globalization and Culture" class taught by Jim Bernard, Distinguished Professor of engineering, and Mark Rectanus, professor of German studies.

The course for seniors and graduate students uses guest speakers to examine the present and future impacts of globalization and prepare students for leadership roles in diverse settings. This spring's speakers included Robert Reich, former secretary of labor in the Clinton Administration; Vance Coffman, retired CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.; Jim Duderstadt, president emeritus of the University of Michigan; and Pietra Rivoli, author of The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy.

Bernard said Gingrich will provide the 140 students of the class with a political perspective on globalization.

"We want people in front of our students who have an influential and sophisticated world view, people with the experience and the profile to give our students as good an introduction as we can give them to globalization," Bernard said. "There are many points of view on these matters and we do our best to introduce our students to the important ones."

Since leaving Congress in 1999, Gingrich has been an author, public speaker, political analyst for the FOX news channel and chairman of the Gingrich Group, a consulting firm in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

"We want people in front of our students who have an influential and sophisticated world view, people with the experience and the profile to give our students as good an introduction as we can give them to globalization."

Jim Bernard, Distinguished professor of engineering