On Thursday, February 24th at 8 a.m. David Gergen made a special appearance at Texas A&M International University for an exceptional morning lecture and breakfast in the Student Center Ballroom. The event was open to members of the community for a fee of $35.
Gergen is a former advisor to four United States presidents. He is also a senior political analyst for CNN, and a Harvard University professor. Gergen is the director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2000, he published the best-selling book,Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.
Gergen was born in Durham, North Carolina, where his father taught mathematics at Duke University. He graduated with honors from both Yale University and Harvard Law School. He also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for nearly three and a half years. Gergen joined the Harvard faculty in 1999. He is active as a speaker on leadership and sits on many boards, such as Teach for America. Gergen is also a member of the Washington D.C. Bar and the Council on Foreign Relations.
TAMIU president Dr. Keck and TAMIU students participated in the inaugural Latino Leadership Initiative at Harvard, last summer where they had the opportunity to meet Gergen.
“We were all very impressed by professor Gergen’s keen interest in fostering leadership, especially leadership by young Latinos. His insight and accessibility to our students was inspiring and helped our Leadership TAMIU program,” Dr. Keck said.
Dr. Keck interviewed Gergen about what made a leader a true leader. Gergen discussed his experience in working with some of our nation’s leaders as well as political and current affairs and the prospects for our country as the next generation take over. “Not every reader is a leader, but every leader is a reader” were among some of the catchy and inspirational quotes by Gergen.
Gergen met with our LLI cohort to hear of their progress in leadership initiatives, as well as the other members of Leadership TAMIU for a short private Q&A session. Gergen provided the students with some words of encouragement about applying for this summer’s Latino Leadership Initiative at Harvard.
Tickets for the lecture and breakfast were on sale for $35. Proceeds for the event will go toward supporting TAMIU’s student leadership program, Leadership TAMIU.
For more information on David Gergen and his latest TV appearances and other projects check out http://www.davidgergen.com
(Mariela Rodriguez may be reached at mariela_rod@dusty.tamiu.edu)