Former presidential adviser and U.S. News & World Report Editor-at-Large David Gergen will speak at the University of Houston’s inaugural Elizabeth D. Rockwell Ethics and Leadership Lecture. The free event will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, in the Hilton University of Houston Hotel.

To obtain tickets, which are required for admission, contact UH OnCall at 713-743-2255.

The lecture series was established through a gift from UH alumna Elizabeth Rockwell.

“I believe ethics is not a business issue or a political issue, it is an everyday life issue. I felt that there was a lot of discussion about ethics in the media and elsewhere without a real understanding about what it is. It was planted with me during my earliest learning when I was 5 years old. It is very simply the Golden Rule,” said Rockwell, retired executive director of CIBC Oppenheimer Corp.’s private client division.

“I worked with the University of Houston to develop this lecture series because I wanted to do something to bring a focus on ethics to the community and am very excited that Mr. Gergen will help us inaugurate the series,” she said.

Gergen is director for the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He served as an adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, as the communications director for President Ronald Reagan, and as the foreign policy and domestic affairs adviser to President Clinton. He also was Clinton’s and Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s special international adviser.

In his speech at UH, Gergen will address “Ethics and Leadership — A 21st Century View.”

“What they (future leaders) must have are: inner mastery; a central, compelling purpose rooted in moral values; a capacity to persuade; skills in working within the system; a fast start; a strong, effective team; and a passion that inspires others to keep the flame alive,” Gergen wrote in his best-selling book “Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.”

A regular TV commentator, Gergen moderated “World @ Large,” a 13-part PBS discussion series for two seasons. He is a Yale University and Harvard Law School honors graduate and holds 13 honorary degrees.

Gergen is active on various nonprofit boards and is chair of the National Selection Committee for the Ford Foundation’s Innovations in American Government Program.

Francine Parker
Fparker@central.uh.edu