January 12, 2007 — The Obert C. and Grace A. Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah (the U) will launch an annual World Leaders Lecture Forum Feb. 22, 2007, the same day former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak will speak at both an open-to-the public campus event and a private dinner. Tanner Humanities Center Director and Professor of History Robert A. Goldberg said, “The new World Leaders Lecture Forum, whose mission is to bring individuals of international stature and global impact to Salt Lake City, will operate under the center’s auspices.”

Joining Goldberg on the advisory cabinet for the World Leaders Lecture Forum are Paul Ahlstrom, Joseph A. Cannon, J. Lynn Dougan, Spencer Eccles, Jr., U Hinckley Institute of Politics Director Kirk Jowers, Mary Kay Lazarus (chair), Norma Matheson, Scott S. Parker, Patricia A. Richards, and Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. The cabinet, in collaboration with the University of Utah Tanner Humanities Center and College of Humanities Dean Robert Newman, will oversee the series and the selection of speakers.

The Tanner Humanities Center was founded in 1988 within the U’s College of Humanities. Its mission is to facilitate in-depth research about the human condition and to build partnerships across campus and in the community that foster dialogue about the issues and events that touch our lives. According to Goldberg, “The new series will serve as a catalyst for insight and discussion of global concerns with both immediate and long-term consequences for all of us worldwide.”