Lincoln (Neb.) - Oct. 4, 2001 - Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union, will deliver the next lecture in the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues Oct. 17 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
His address, "Russia: Retrospect and Prospect," will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the 2,276-seat Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 N. 12th St. It is free and open to the public. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. with seating on a first-come basis. Overflow seating will be available in the Nebraska Union auditorium, offering a live video feed of the lecture. Gorbachev plans to take audience questions at the conclusion of his lecture.
Gorbachev was president of the Soviet Union from 1990-91 and general secretary of the Communist Party from 1985 to 1991. Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for his role in promoting peace and change in the Soviet Union and ending the U.S.S.R.'s domination of eastern Europe through the process of "glasnost." Gorbachev also ended the Soviets' ill-fated nine-year occupation of Afghanistan when he oversaw the withdrawal of troops in 1988 and 1989.
On Dec. 25, 1991, he resigned the presidency of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist the same day.
Gorbachev now serves as president of the Gorbachev Foundation, which focuses on the challenges of the post-Cold War world. He also is president of an environmental organization, Green Cross International.
Thompson Forum lectures are available live on Lincoln public-access
cable Channel 21, UNL's KRNU radio (90.3 FM), via satellite at Learning
Centers in Scottsbluff, Norfolk, Grand Island and North Platte and at
other sites throughout the state through NebSat 107, and via streaming
video on the UNL Web site (http://www.unl.edu).
For questions regarding these releases, contact:
tsimons1@unl.edu
(402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825