Award-winning journalist and television host Chris Wallace will be the featured speaker at the 25th annual R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues at Missouri Western State University this fall. The Convocation begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13 in the M.O. Looney Complex arena and is free and open to the public. Wallace’s topic is “A View from Washington.” Wallace will also be the featured guest at the annual Convocation Luncheon at noon Nov. 13 in the Fulkerson Center. Ticketing information for the luncheon will be announced at a later date.
“The 2018 elections are likely to be among the most momentous midterms in a long time, and I’m very pleased that we will have a respected and authoritative commentator like Chris Wallace on our campus a week later to provide his analysis on what the results mean,” said Dr. Robert Vartabedian, Missouri Western’s president.
Currently the host of “FOX News Sunday,” Wallace previously reported from the ABC News desk as a senior correspondent for “Primetime” and “20/20,” and as an anchor on the longest-running show on television, NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” in his long career. The author of the best-seller, “Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage,” Wallace has won every major broadcast news award, including three Emmys, the Peabody Award and the Dupont-Columbia Silver Baton Award. In 2016, Wallace earned praise from fellow journalists and political operatives on both sides of the aisle for his sterling performance moderating the final presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Missouri Western inaugurated the R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues program in 1993. The Convocation is held in honor of R. Dan Boulware, former president of the Board of Regents, who was instrumental in the program’s founding and remains actively involved.
“I wanted the Convocation primarily for our students. But secondarily, I wanted to bring our community and University together for a common purpose – to learn and grow together,” Boulware said. “Bringing national speakers to our University enhances the reputation of Missouri Western both regionally and beyond. It augments the educational process in a number of positive ways. It is appropriate for our 25th annual Convocation on Critical Issues that we have secured another high-profile speaker who I consider to be widely respected and viewed as the leading journalist in the country today. His presence here right after the midterm election is perfect.”
Previous Convocation speakers include: Bill Bradley, Douglas Brinkley, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Sam Donaldson, Steve Forbes, Thomas Friedman, David Gergen, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Newt Gingrich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Martin Luther King III, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jerry Linenger, David McCullough, Joseph Nye, T. Boone Pickens, Colin Powell, Tom Ridge, Cokie Roberts, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Daniel Schorr, Patricia Schroeder, J. C. Watts and Bob Woodward.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.