This week, on consecutive days, will see a pair of presidents
address the Emory community. President Bill Chace will speak to
staff at his annual town hall meeting in Winship Ballroom, Sept.
25 at noon, and President Jimmy Carter will return to Emory for
his 21st town hall meeting, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. in the P.E. Center.
Around 1,600 tickets have been set aside for freshmen to attend
Carter’s town hall, an Emory institution since shortly after
the former U.S. president left office. The students will attend
with their FAME groups.
Although he left office several years before the Class of 2006 was
born, Carter’s annual appearance always creates a buzz among
students, the great majority of whom have never been so close to—much
less in the same room—with a world leader.
For half the evening, Carter addresses audience questions, which
are written on index cards and chosen at random. Last year, when
the event took place two days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
Carter answered several questions about that event, as well as others
that ranged from Microsoft to Tibet to the acceptance of Cuban refugees
during his presidency.
The Carter town hall is ticketed; those tickets will be distributed
to FAME groups. Any leftovers will be made available to the rest
of the Emory community and they can be picked up at the Dobbs Center
ticket desk.
Anyone attending the town hall will need a ticket and an Emory ID.
Backpacks or other bags will not be allowed in the building, and
is suggested that groups meet around 7:30 p.m. in order to make
entry into the P.E. Center smooth.
While students will make up the majority of the audience at the
Carter Town Hall, Emory employees are the target group of the Chace
town hall.
“I welcome the chance to be present at every town hall meeting;
I hope the attendance will be large and the questions interesting,”
Chace said. “I am pleased that we can keep this valuable tradition
going.”
Sponsored by Employee Council, the Chace town hall is open to all
staff and faculty members. The event is a brown bag, but beverages
and desserts will be provided.
“The importance of this annual event is to continue to keep
communication lines open between staff and President Chace,”
said Susie Lackey, research specialist at Yerkes and chair of Employee
Council’s communications committee.
“It is an outstanding opportunity not only to voice concerns
on issues affecting the staff population, but also to offer opinions
on solutions as well,” said Cheryl Bowie, accountant in radiation
oncology at Grady and Employee Council president.
Prior to the meeting, questions can be presented to President Chace
via e-mail at townhall2002@learnlink.emory.edu.
Postings can be viewed at www.learnlink.emory.edu/townhall.
For those unable to attend, a link to the live webcast will be available
on the Employee Council home page (www.emory.edu/EmployeeCouncil).
|