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September 30, 2009

ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą Presidential Lyceum to feature best-selling author and Pulitzer winner

Thomas L. Friedman, best-selling author and New York Times foreign affairs columnist, will speak at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 8, in Brown Theatre, as part of the University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Presidential Lyceum Series.

Friedman is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner touted by Vanity Fair magazine as “the country’s best newspaper columnist.” Friedman has reported on numerous stories considered pivotal in American foreign policy in recent decades.

In his best-selling book, The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Thomas L. Friedman demystifies how the world “flattened” at the dawn of the 21st-century and explains the cultural, political and economic implications on all of us.

The World is Flat earned the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award in 2005, the same year that U.S. News & World Report named Friedman one of “America's Best Leaders.” ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą included the book in its freshman summer reading program this year.

Friedman’s most recent work is Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America, another bestseller.

“ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą is fortunate to add Mr. Friedman to the growing list of notable speakers we have hosted in the last several years,” said ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą President James E. Cofer Sr. “His books cogently addresses the myriad of issues stemming from globalization and spells out in precise terms what one must do to compete amid these ever-changing realities.”

A book signing will follow Friedman’s lecture to the public; a Patron Party at 5:30 p.m. will precede it.

Student admission is free and ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą faculty and staff tickets are $10 for the event. General admission tickets are $25, while tickets for the Patron Party, where guests will get the chance to meet Friedman, are $75. Tickets went on sale this week and can be purchased online at or at ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą La Capitol Bank.

Friedman has authored three previous books, all of them bestsellers: From Beirut to Jerusalem, winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction; The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization; and Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11.

ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą's Presidential Lyceum Series began in 2003 under the direction of current President James E. Cofer Sr., to promote intellectual exchange among ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą students, faculty, staff and the community. Previous speakers at the Presidental Lyceum Series include:

• journalist and TV host Lisa Ling

• political strategists James Carville and Mary Matalin;

• businessman and entrepreneur Steve Forbes;

• comedian and television personality Ben Stein;

• laywer and social activist Robert Kennedy, Jr.;

• author/historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin;

• film/TV star and comedian Bill Cosby

For more information about Friedman’s visit to ĂŰ˝ŰÖ±˛Ą, contact Media Relations Director Laura Woodard at 318-342-5447. For more information about the Presidential Lyceum Series, visit .

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