By Katie Krzaczek
News Editor
Just four months after Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, spoke at the inaugural Hanway Lecture in Global Studies, Loyola announced General Colin Powell as the next speaker in the series.
Allison Rubin, director of advancement events and donor relations, said, “We had the opportunity to have a speaker like General Powell, and we decided it was an opportunity we didn’t want to miss, so we moved on it.”
Because of the proximity to the last Hanway Lecture, Rubin explained that “it won’t always be like that.” Rubin said the closeness of the two speakers does not mean there will be another lecture in the spring. “One [lecture] per academic year will be the general rule,” she said.
Unlike how the event with Tony Blair last spring focused on the question and answer portion, Powell will be speaking for the majority of the time. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and the general public still have the opportunity to submit questions that Powell may answer at the conclusion of the lecture, though the Q and A portion will not be quite as long.
“Powell likes to speak about diplomacy,” Rubin said. “Certainly, he has a wide range of experience from being a four-star general, to secretary of state, to national security. I think that’s where he brings the global perspective to us.”
Bringing a global perspective is the foundation for the Hanway Lectures. A series endowed by Ellen and Ed Hanway, a graduate of Loyola and chair of the board of trustees, the lectures are meant to bring “noteworthy leaders to campus to share timely, relevant insight into today’s global society.”
“[Hanway’s] perspective of the world changed when he got to travel extensively abroad,” said Rubin, “so he wants to see these [leaders] come and speak to students because he thinks…it will open your eyes to what’s going on in the world.”
The impact of Tony Blair’s lecture was visible on social media, and Rubin made it a point to show Hanway the tweets and photos attendees posted during the event. “[Twitter] is how we get student reactions to everything,” Rubin said. “There were people saying ‘Tony Blair was awesome,’ or maybe commenting on something particular that he said. People were tweeting ‘Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Hanway.’”
Tickets for this year’s Hanway Lecture will be available for students at the box office beginning Monday, September 16. Rubin said, “I hope there will be a line there was for Tony Blair.”
