8:01 a.m., Feb. 26, 2009----The University of Delaware will offer the 24th annual Land and Sea Lecture Series on Fridays throughout the month of March, with this year's series featuring Gov. Jack Markell and top state officials who will discuss their plans for the next four years.

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Gary Simpson, assistant director of University Relations and lecture series organizer, said the 2009 series is unique because of the participation of the new governor and his administration.

“For the past 23 years our Lecture Series always featured speakers from the University community, but this year we thought it would be interesting to let people meet and hear from some of the individuals that will impact Delaware's future for the next four or more years,” Simpson said. “We've asked Gov. Markell and three of the top people in his new administration to share their thoughts on the future of the state. Their insights should prove to be both informative and thought provoking."

The University of Delaware Office of Alumni and University Relations is sponsoring the public lecture series, which is free and open to the public.

The lectures will be held twice each Friday -- at 10 a.m. at the Virden Center on the University of Delaware's Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes and at 1:30 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room of the Milford Public Library.

This year's series kicks off on Friday, March 6, when Markell will present a lecture on “Historic Challenges, Historic Opportunities: Laying a Foundation for the Future,” in which he will discuss the economic and budget challenges that currently face the state and the nation.

On Friday, March 13, Secretary of Education Lillian M. Lowery will discuss how educators are dealing with the many education laws that have been mandated nationally and locally, as well as how educators respond to Horace Mann's 1847 call for a free system of education that includes everyone. Her lecture is titled “But Are They Learning.”

On Friday, March 20, Alan D. Levin, director at the Delaware Economic Development Office, will speak about how to fix unemployment problems in the state, as unemployment numbers in the state at the close of 2008 were higher than ever before. As well, he will provide a look ahead at Delaware's economic development in a lecture titled “A New Day for Business in Delaware.”

The last lecture of the series will be held Friday, March 27, when Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services Rita Landgraf presents a lecture titled “How to Squeeze a Tomato,” which will deal with strategies that attempt to maximize effectiveness, efficiencies and state tax dollars.

Article by Jon Bleiweis