1:03 p.m., Sept. 3, 2009----The University of Delaware is planning a fall public affairs lecture series titled “Assessing Obama's First Year” that will feature both faculty experts and national speakers, including David Plouffe, who attended UD and played a central role in the campaign of President Barack Obama, and Ed Gillespie, former chairperson of the Republican National Committee and White House adviser to George W. Bush.

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The lecture series celebrates UD's position at the epicenter of politics during the fall 2008 presidential election and builds on successful election events on campus, including an earlier lecture series and an Election Night program that drew a large crowd to the Trabant University Center.

A Bloomberg news service reporter wrote that UD was at the epicenter of the 2008 election, with the Democrats represented by Plouffe and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden and the Republicans by Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to John McCain. All attended UD. Biden made a late campaign stop on campus last fall and Plouffe and Schmidt returned for a lively discussion across the aisle in April.

The fall lecture series is sponsored by the departments of Communication and Political Science and International Relations, the Office of the Provost, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy.

Presentations by UD faculty members will be held in Room 130 Smith Hall, beginning at 7:30 p.m., and those by national speakers will be held in Mitchell Hall. Times for presentations by the national speakers have not yet been set. Most of the presentations will be on Wednesdays.

The schedule is as follows:

Sept. 9: Ralph Begleiter, Edward and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Communication, Distinguished Journalist in Residence for communication and political science and international relations, “America's Image: How Do We Look?”

Sept. 16: Lindsay Hoffman, assistant professor of communication, “Plugged into the Electorate.”

Sept. 23: Joseph Pika, James R. Soles Professor of Political Science and International Relations, “The Bush Legacy.”

Sept. 30: Laurence S. Seidman, Chaplin Tyler Professor of Economics, “The Administration's Economic Policy and the Recovery.”

Oct. 7: David Axelrod, senior adviser to President Barack Obama, "The Politics of Health Care Reform."

Oct. 14: Steven Peuquet, director of the UD Center for Community Research and Service, “Urban Poverty and the Stimulus.”

Oct. 21: David Plouffe, "Lessons from a Presidential Campaign."

Nov. 4: Muqtedar Khan, associate professor of political science and international relations, “Obama and the Muslim World.”

Nov. 11: David Wilson, assistant professor of political science and international relations, "Public Opinion One Year Later."

Nov. 18: Danna Young, assistant professor of communication, “The Reinvention of Late Night? Political Humor in the Age of Obama.”

Dec. 2: Ed Gillespie, "The Future of the Republican Party," 7:30 p.m., Mitchell Hall.

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson