Officials and dignitaries visit SMU classes
during Bush Center groundbreaking activities

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer is among the Bush-era officials visting SMU classes.

Ari Fleischer

Ari Fleisher speaks to SMU Professor Carolyn Barta’s Journalism class.
Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleisher
speaks to Prof. Carolyn Barta’s journalism class.
The groundbreaking for the George W. Bush Presidential Center at SMU is bringing former White House officials and current dignitaries to campus not only for the ceremony on Tuesday, but also for visits to SMU classes in political science and journalism.

“When we decided to seek the Bush Center on campus, we knew that one of the benefits would be to provide opportunities for students to interact with world leaders and with officials who have been involved in key issues faced by the White House during the Bush Presidency,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “This is certainly proving to be the case. In addition, over the past year President Bush has met with several SMU classes at the invitation of faculty. These are unique learning opportunities for our students.” 

Here’s a rundown of the campus visits. Others will occur as time allows:

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15

  • Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, spoke to a journalism class taught by Professor Carolyn Barta. It was open to other journalism students as well as faculty.
        
  • Peter Feaver, former special advisor for strategic planning and institutional reform on the National Security Council, met with political science students and faculty.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16

  • Álvaro Uribe, the former president of Colombiamet with members of the Board of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies in Dedman College, followed by a meeting with faculty and students.
         
  • Andrew Card, former White House chief of staff, spoke to Professor Seyom Brown’s class on the politics of military force.

“We expect these opportunities to continue and certainly to grow as the Bush Center nears completion,” Turner added.

 

Alvaro Uribe
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe talks
with SMU Tower Center students and friends.
Andy Card
Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card speaks
to Prof. Seyom Brown’s political science class.

# # #