Karl Rove, the Republican political strategist best known as President George W. Bush’s top advisor, will be the featured speaker at the Fredericksburg Forum to be hosted by the University of Mary Washington on Wednesday, September 28. The program will be held at 8 p.m. in George Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium.
The long-running forum, which typically has offered two lectures annually since 1996, will be consolidated into a single, fall program beginning in 2011-12. In the spring semester, the university hosts numerous, popular guest speakers, including the James Farmer visiting scholar lectures and the Chappell “Great Lives” lecture series.
Rove served as Bush’s senior advisor from 2000 to 2007 and as deputy chief of staff from 2004 to 2007. He oversaw the White House offices of strategic initiatives, political affairs, public liaison and intergovernmental affairs and was deputy chief of staff for policy, coordinating the White House policy-making process. Washington Post columnist David Broder called Rove a master political strategist whose “game has always been long term…and he plays it with an intensity and attention to detail that few can match.”
Rove is now a Fox News contributor, writes a weekly op-ed column for the Wall Street Journal and serves as a Newsweek columnist. He wrote the newly released New York Times bestseller “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.”
Prior to serving as the architect of George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, Rove was president of Karl Rove + Company, an Austin, Texas-based public affairs firm that worked for Republican candidates, nonpartisan causes and nonprofit groups. His clients included more than 75 Republican U.S. Senate, congressional and gubernatorial candidates in 24 states, as well as the Moderate Party of Sweden.
Rove now serves on the board of trustees for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and for the Texas State History Museum Foundation. He also is a member of the McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors.
A Colorado native, he attended the University of Utah, the University of Maryland-College Park, George Mason University and the University of Texas (UT) at Austin.
At UT-Austin, Rove has taught graduate students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and undergraduates in the journalism and government departments. He has served on the Board of International Broadcasting, which oversaw the operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, and on the White House Fellows regional selection panel. He also was a member of the boards of regents at Texas Woman’s University and at East Texas State University.
Tickets for the Rove lecture are $35 for general admission, $40 for orchestra seating and $55 for patron seating, which includes a post-event reception with Rove.
The Fredericksburg Forum is a community-sponsored program underwritten by ticket sales that brings nationally known speakers to the Fredericksburg community and the university.
Former Fredericksburg Forum guests include celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, Civil War historian Shelby Foote, actor James Earl Jones and musical comedian Mark Russell.
For ticket information, contact the Office of University Events and Conferencing at (540) 654-1065.