Final preparations are underway for the 20th annual R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues featuring noted historian Dr. Doris Kearns Goodwin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the M.O. Looney Complex Arena. Dr. Goodwin’s recent book about Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet inspired the critically acclaimed film “Lincoln.” Her speech, “Team of Rivals: Leadership Lessons from Abraham Lincoln,” is free and open to the public.
The annual Convocation Luncheon, featuring a question-and-answer session with Dr. Goodwin, will follow the Convocation at noon Oct. 22 in the Fulkerson Center. There is a $40 cost for the luncheon, and reservations are due by Tuesday, Oct. 15. Call 816-271-5670 to make a reservation.
Dr. Goodwin is the author of several books and has written for leading national publications. She appears regularly on network television programs and was an on-air consultant for PBS documentaries on Lyndon B. Johnson, the Kennedy family and Franklin Roosevelt as well as Ken Burns’ “The History of Baseball.” She was the first female journalist to enter the Red Sox locker room.
Dr. Goodwin was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She received her bachelor’s degree from Colby College and her doctorate in government from Harvard University. After teaching government at Harvard, Dr. Goodwin served as an assistant to Lyndon Johnson in his last year in the White House. She later assisted Johnson in the preparation of his memoirs.
In 1976, Dr. Goodwin authored “Lyndon Johnson & The American Dream,” which became a New York Times bestseller. She followed up in 1987 with the political biography, “The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys,” which stayed on the bestseller list for five months and was later made into a six-hour ABC miniseries. Her next book, “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Home Front During World War II,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995.
Her most recent work, a monumental history of Abraham Lincoln titled “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” published in 2005, reached No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. “Team of Rivals” won the 2006 Lincoln Prize for an outstanding work about the president and/or the Civil War, the New York Historical Society Book Prize, the Richard Nelson Current award and the New York State Archives History Makers Award. A feature film based on “Team of Rivals,” directed by Steven Spielberg, premiered last November. “Lincoln” opened to rave reviews and received seven Golden Globe and 12 Oscar nominations.
Dr. Goodwin’s next book, “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism” will be published Nov. 5.
Missouri Western inaugurated the R. Dan Boulware Convocation on Critical Issues program in 1993. The program was started as part of an overall commitment to offer enriching experiences to students while bringing together the college and community. The Convocation is held in honor of R. Dan Boulware, former president of the Board of Regents. Previous Convocation speakers include: Bill Bradley, James Carville & Mary Matalin, Sam Donaldson, Steve Forbes, Thomas Friedman, David Gergen, Newt Gingrich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jerry Linenger, David McCullough, Joseph Nye, T. Boone Pickens, Colin Powell, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Daniel Schorr, Patricia Schroeder, J. C. Watts and Bob Woodward. The Convocation is sponsored by the Missouri Western State University Foundation.
Missouri Western State University is a comprehensive regional university providing a blend of traditional liberal arts and professional degree programs. The university offers student-centered, high quality instruction that focuses on experience-based learning, community service, and state-of-the-art technology. Missouri Western is located in St. Joseph, Mo., and is committed to the educational, economic, cultural and social development of the region it serves. Visit www.missouriwestern.edu.