The University's Miller Center of Public Affairs announced Sept. 1 that WVPT-Virginia Public Television will begin broadcasting the weekly lecture series "Miller Center Forums" Sept. 15.
Now in its 25th year, the Center's Forum Program brings prominent figures in the areas of public affairs and American and international politics to speak to the University community in a non-partisan setting.
According to George Gilliam, director of the Miller Center Forum, the idea to televise the lectures stemmed from their popularity and the Center's inability to seat all those interested in attending the lectures.
"The Forum is truly Virginia's and the nation's premier speaker series," Gilliam said. "We are really excited to have this contract because a much greater number of people will be able to see the program."
The "Forums" will air on Fridays at 9 p.m. this September and Sundays at 2 p.m. starting this October on WVPT. The public television station will broadcast the program throughout the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia and will also make them available to other stations around the state.
Wanda Zimmerman, director of programming at WVPT, said the station was excited to add the series to its schedule and allow public television viewers to see the program.
Although the Center has broadcasted its forums on the Internet for three years, Gilliam said the size of the Web audience was limited by the need for a high-speed Internet connection and the finite number of people who can simultaneously watch a Web cast.
Lisa Todorovich, the Center's director of external relations, said the television broadcasts would be a nice complement to the Webcasts.
"This allows us to bring the forums to a more widespread audience throughout Virginia, including people who are avid public television watchers who might not have heard about us," Todorovich said. "It is just one more way that we can reach them."
The only change to the lectures will be a tighter restriction on the number of questions so as to keep the program within the television time limit.
Past speakers at the Forum, which is periodically featured on C-SPAN, have included Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and journalist Jim Lehrer. The 2006-2007 schedule includes Politics Prof. William B. Quandt and Washington Post Pentagon correspondent Thomas Ricks, who recently authored New York Times bestseller "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq."
Live lectures are held Monday and Friday mornings at the Miller Center with seating availible on a first-come basis.
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