Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to be K-State Landon Lecture speaker

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Source: Charles Reagan, 785-532-6221, reagan@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/landon
News release prepared by: Beth Bohn, 785-532-6415

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD TO BE K-STATE LANDON LECTURE SPEAKER

MANHATTAN -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will present the 146th Landon Lecture at Kansas State University. The lecture will be at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in Bramlage Coliseum.

"We're pleased that Secretary Rumsfeld has accepted our invitation to give a Landon Lecture at K-State," said Charles Reagan, chair of the Landon Lecture Series. "Secretary Rumsfeld has been in the forefront of the war on terror, directing the actions of the U.S. Defense Department. He has played a leading role in the U.S. effort to remove the Taliban from Afghanistan and in overturning the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq."

Because of an anticipated high demand for a limited number of seats, admission to the lecture will be restricted to K-State students, faculty and staff members; Landon Lecture patrons; special invited guests; and a contingent of military service members from Fort Riley.

Student and faculty-staff tickets will be distributed on the first floor of the K-State State Student Union beginning at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 6, and will continue until 4 p.m. or until all the tickets are gone. Student and faculty-staff tickets also have been allocated to the Salina campus and will be distributed by the dean's office. Individuals must show their K-State student or faculty-staff ID to pick up a ticket; they also must show their ticket and K-State ID to gain entry to Bramlage Nov. 9. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. All seats will be reserved; those wishing to sit together should pick up their tickets together.

Landon patrons will receive their tickets in the mail. Because of security concerns, only Landon patrons will be able to use their patrons' passes and may not designate others to use their tickets. Patrons should use their parking passes to park in a special section of the coliseum's west parking lot. The entrance for patrons will be at the southwest doors of Bramlage.

Seating at the lecture will be available for people with disabilities.

No handbags, backpacks, cameras, briefcases or bags of any kind will be permitted inside Bramlage for the lecture, and there will be no place to check bags.

Rumsfeld has served as the nation's 21st secretary of defense since Jan. 20, 2001. He also was the 13th secretary of defense -- and the youngest individual to serve in the post -- from 1975-77 during the Ford administration. Prior to his first stint as secretary of defense, Rumsfeld served as President Ford's chief of staff from 1974-75. In addition, he was U.S. ambassador to NATO from 1973-74.

Rumsfeld is a graduate of Princeton University, where he received academic and Navy ROTC scholarships. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1954-57 as an aviator and flight instructor. He transferred to the Ready Reserve in 1957; to Standby Reserve in 1975; and to the Retired Reserve in 1989 with the rank of captain.

A four-term congressman, Rumsfeld was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois in 1962, winning re-election in 1964, 1966 and 1968.

He left government service in 1977, becoming chief executive officer, president and then chairman of G.D. Searle and Co., a worldwide pharmaceutical company, until 1985. From 1990-93, Rumsfeld was chairman and CEO of General Instrument Corporation, a leader in broadband transmission, distribution and access control technologies. Prior to his second stint as secretary of defense, Rumsfeld was chairman of the board of Gilead Sciences Inc., a pharmaceutical company.

Rumsfeld will be accompanied on his trip to K-State by his wife, Joyce.

In addition to giving his Landon Lecture, Rumsfeld also will attend the dedication ceremony Nov. 9 for the renaming of K-State's Military Science Building to Gen. Richard B. Myers Hall. The ceremony is at 1:30 p.m. at the hall and is open to the public. Myers, a 1965 K-State alum and Air Force ROTC graduate, was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2001-2005, serving Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush.

The lecture also can be heard live on the Web at http://www.k-state.edu/landon