Robert Gibbs, former press secretary to President Barack Obama, will discuss “Communicating through the Chaos” of American politics Sept. 13 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Eve M. Carson Memorial Speaker Series will bring Gibbs to campus for the Hunt and Hillard Gold ’39 Lecture. He will speak at 7 p.m. in Memorial Hall in a talk that is free to the public.
Gibbs has been an adviser and strategist to the president from the early days of Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate race to his sweep to the White House. He served as Obama’s press secretary, presiding over daily press briefings, from 2009 to January 2011.
During four years of intense campaigning and close contact, Gibbs became an integral part of the president’s team. According to The New York Times, Gibbs advised Obama on politics, strategy and messaging and spent more time with him than any other adviser.
Gibbs also served as press secretary for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and has previously specialized in Senate campaigns, having served as communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and for four individual Senate campaigns.
The Eve M. Carson Memorial Speakers Series honors Eve Carson, the late student body president, and is sponsored by the Women’s Leadership Council and Student Government. The Hillard Gold lecture series is hosted by Honors Carolina and the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences. It honors alumnus Hillard Gold and is made possible by the gift of James Gold ’72 and Jonathan Gold ’75 in honor of their late father.
For more information, visit http://www.johnstoncenter.unc.edu, or call (919) 966-5110.
