Former Secretary of State Baker to speak at SWT

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Former United States Secretary of State James Baker will present a public lecture Tuesday, May 11, at Southwest Texas State University.

Bakers lecture, titled Pax Americana, will take place at 7:30 p.m. at SWTs Evans Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The lecture is the second in the Gilbert Grosvenor Distinguished Lecture series sponsored by the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education in SWTs Department of Geography and Planning.

Grosvenor, chariman of the Board of Trustees of the National Geographic Society, will introduce Baker.

Baker has held numerous senior government positions during his career in public service. He was secretary of state and White House chief of staff under George Bush, and secretary of the treasury, chairman of the Presidents Economic Policy Council and White House chief of staff under Ronald Reagan. His public service began in 1975 as under secretary of commerce to Gerald Ford.

A native Houstonian, Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952. After serving two years of active duty as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Baker attended the University of Texas School of Law and graduated with honors.

He is the recipient of many awards for distinguished public service, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991, the George F. Kennan Award, the Department of the Treasury’s Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department of States Distinguished Service Award and numerous honorary academic degrees.

Baker is a senior partner in the law firm of Baker & Botts and senior counselor to the Carlyle Group, a merchant banking firm in Washington, D.C. He is honorary chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

For further information, contact the Gilbert M. Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education at (512) 245-1823.