FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (9/01)
Contact: Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120 (day) or 868-1067 (evening); Judy McNeil, Centenary Forerunners/Senior Adult Education, 869-5115; or Dr. Jodi Campbell, Convocations Committee Chair, 869-5185
 

Buddy Roemer to Speak on "Louisiana's Oriental Connections" Sept. 20 at Centenary College
 

SHREVEPORT, LA -- Former Louisiana Gov. Charles "Buddy" Roemer will speak twice on Thursday, Sept. 20 at Centenary College. 

His topic will be "Louisiana's Oriental Connections" at a public lecture at 11:10 a.m. sponsored by the Convocations Committee and at 2 p.m. when he kicks off the Fall 2001 series of the Centenary Forerunners, the college's lifetime learning classes formerly called the Senior Adult Education program.  

Both programs will be held in Kilpatrick Auditorium. The auditorium is located on the north side of the Smith Building, which is at the corner of Kings Highway and Woodlawn Street.

The Forerunners program will also include the introductions of the Fall 2001 instructors who will teach a wide range of non-credit courses in the Forerunners series, designed mostly for those over age 50.  Registration for the fall courses will occur that day as well as weekdays Sept. 17-25 from 10 a.m. to noon and  2 to 4 p.m. at 869-5115.

Roemer served as governor of Louisiana from March 1988 through January 1992. As governor, he was viewed as a strong reformer, who stressed the four E's: economic development, ethics in government, environmental balance and education. During his term as governor, the first campaign finance reform legislation in the history of the state was passed.

Prior to serving as governor, Roemer represented Northwest Louisiana as a U.S. congressman from 1980-87. As a congressman, he was a member of the "boll  weevils," a group of primarily Southern, conservative Democrats.

He is president of Roemer and Associates, a Louisiana company that specializes in foreign trade and investment, concentrating on Central/South America and China. He is also one of the founding members of the Business Bank of Baton Rouge.

Roemer earned a bachelor's degree in government and politics from Harvard College in 1964 and the MBA from Harvard Business School in 1967. He received an honorary doctorate from Centenary in 1989.  

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