Czech Republic president to speak at Cornell Sept. 24

Václav Klaus
Klaus

Czech Republic President Václav Klaus, a Cornell non-degree alumnus ('69 economics), will visit Cornell Sept. 24.

His one-day visit will include a tour of campus; lunch with Cornell President David Skorton and Provost Kent Fuchs; and a lecture, "A Return to Cornell: Personal remarks by the President of the Czech Republic," followed by a reception.

The lecture, which will take place in Statler Auditorium at 3 p.m., is part of the Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series.

Klaus, born in 1941, has been a major figure in Czech and European politics since the end of the Cold War. He attended the University of Economics in Prague (majoring in the foreign trade economics and graduating in 1963) and later served as professor of finance there; minister of finance and vice chairman of the government for the former Czechoslovak Federal Republic; prime minister of the Czech Republic; chairman of the Chamber of Deputies in the Czech parliament; and is serving his second term as president of the Czech Republic. He has published more than 20 books on social, political and economic themes.

Klaus' visit is sponsored by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Cornell Institute for European Studies.