David Gergen, an accomplished author, journalist and adviser to four U.S. presidents, will serve as Elon University’s first Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership during Winter Term 2004. Gergen will meet with students and give three public lectures, scheduled for Jan. 6, Jan. 12 and Jan. 14.
The new professorship is funded by the estate of the late Isabella Cannon, a 1924 alumnus of Elon University and former mayor of Raleigh, N.C. Each year, a visiting professor will teach leadership classes and work directly with students in the Isabella Cannon Leadership Program. The visiting professor will be a nationally recognized leader who desires to help young people learn about the nature, potential and responsibility of leadership, creating positive change for the common good.
“We are pleased David Gergen will serve in this important role during Winter Term,” said Leo M. Lambert, Elon president. “His experience in the White House has given him a unique view of leadership at the highest levels of public service. Elon students, faculty and the public will have an unprecedented opportunity to hear his perspectives and learn about the qualities that define strong leadership.”
Gergen served as director of communications for President Reagan and held positions in the administrations of Presidents Nixon and Ford. He also served for 18 months in the Clinton administration, first as a counselor to President Clinton and later as a special adviser to the president and the secretary of state. Gergen wrote about his White House experience in his acclaimed book ”Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.”
Gergen serves as professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is editor-at-large at U.S. News and World Report magazine, hosts “The World at Large with David Gergen” and appears regularly as an analyst on ABC’s “Nightline.”
A native of Durham, N.C., Gergen has shared his knowledge with Elon students before. In January 2001, he served as a panelist for a symposium titled “The First 100 Days of the 21st Century Presidency,” along with journalist Sander Vanocur and historians Michael Beschloss and William Leuchtenburg. In April 2003, Gergen interviewed legendary broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite before an audience of 2,900 in Koury Center.
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