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Kirk addresses 'America's Challenges' in Elmhurst College series

Forget the famed TED Conference that happens each year in Vancouver.

To access wisdom from the best and brightest in the country, students at Elmhurst College and surrounding community members can simply stay close to home.

As part of its annual Cultural Season every fall and spring, the college sponsors a series of public lectures, art and musical events that feature speakers such as retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward, and famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

And on Thursday, April 9, the college will feature Illinois' own policy expert, Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk of Highland Park.

His talk is part of both the Cultural Season and the college's Governmental Forum, which annually brings together the state's foremost governmental and civic leaders, business experts and policy analysts to discuss pressing economic and governance issues facing our state and nation.

Kirk's talk will focus on "America's Challenges: At Home and Abroad" at noon at Drury Lane Conference Center in Oakbrook Terrace.

College spokeswoman Desiree Chen said the event is held off campus because the Governmental Forum has grown steadily since its inception about a decade ago and has become popular in recent years.

"A few years ago we featured (Illinois Speaker of the House) Michael Madigan, which was a huge event because he hardly ever makes public appearances," she said. "It was after that we thought we should expand this."

The forum is the brainchild of Lee Daniels, former Illinois Speaker of the House and now a special assistant to Elmhurst College President S. Alan Ray.

"He has always felt that public engagement and discussion about government and economics facing the state is vital," Chen said. "He is really the one who has pushed the forum to the next level."

Kirk was chosen for this year's forum because of his expertise on foreign policy.

Kirk has held his Senate seat since 2010 and serves on the committees for appropriations, banking, health, education, labor & pensions and aging.

He is also the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Subcommittee for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs.

Elmhurst College students who attend the Kirk talk, as well as other events in the Cultural Season, get even more opportunities to learn from the best.

Students get small group meetings with speakers before the talk and often share dinner with them, too, according to Chen.

"It's a wonderful thing for them," she said.

She said the Cultural Season talks also attract community members from throughout the Chicago area. Additional talks this year will feature Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein presenting "The Legacy of Ben Bradlee: Journalism Then and Now" at 7 p.m. Monday, April 13, and "Inside the Hot Zone," presented by author Richard Preston, who 20 years ago introduced Americans to the Ebola virus with his book of the same name, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 30.

For full details on all events, visit http://public.elmhurst.edu/cultural_events.

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