Joseph D. Duffey, director of the U.S. Information Agency that oversees the Fulbright Exchange Program and other educational exchanges, will be the keynote speaker for what will be an historic event for the University of Arkansas — the dedication of the Fulbright Peace Fountain at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, in the mall between Old Main and Vol Walker Hall.

The three-day celebration of the Fulbright Peace Fountain, a memorial the late Sen. J. William Fulbright for his monumental contributions in international relations and education, also will feature a lecture by UA professor Randall Woods on "Fulbright and the New International Order" at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in Giffels Auditorium in Old Main. At 3:30 p.m. Friday a reception will be held in honor of Ambassador George McGovern. The reception will take place just outside Giffels Auditorium. At 4 p.m. McGovern will speak on "Fulbright: Old Principles for a New Age" in Giffels.

The public is invited to attend all three events.

Saturday's event also will feature Inaugural Poet Miller Williams, who will read a poem he wrote in memory of Fulbright. Williams is a professor of English and foreign languages at the U of A. Comments will be made by the senator's widow, Harriet Mayor Fulbright; Fulbright's son-in-law and president of the University of Miami, Dr. Edward Foote; UA Chancellor John A. White; UA President B. Alan Sugg and Dean of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Bernard Madison.

Duffey was named as director of the USIA in 1993 by President Clinton. He previously served as president of the American University in Washington, D.C. From 1982-1991 he was chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1989 he was elected to the board of trustees of that university as president of the four-campus UMASS system. He was the first and only administrator to serve as president and chancellor of the Amherst campus.

Duffey was assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under Presidents Carter and Reagan. Previous to his appointment as USIA director, he was a member of the faculty at Yale University and a fellow of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In 1978 and 1980 he served as U.S. delegate to the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Woods, the John A. Cooper Sr. Professor of American History at the U of A, is the author of the noted Fulbright biography "J. William Fulbright: A Biography," for which he was awarded in 1996 the Robert H. Ferrel Prize for Best Book on American Foreign Relations and the 1996 Virginia Ledbetter Prize for Best Book on Southern Studies. The biography was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.

McGovern was appointed as ambassador to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Agencies by Clinton earlier this year. Since 1991, he has served as president of the Middle East Policy Council, an educational organization founded in 1981 to promote better understanding of the realities and issues of the Middle East. McGovern was elected in 1956 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1960 when President Kennedy appointed him first director of the U.S. Food for Peace Program and special assistant to the president. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, he was reelected in 1968 and 1974. In 1972 he was the Democratic nominee for President. In 1976 he was appointed by President Ford as delegate to the 31st session of the General Assembly of the United Nations and subsequently appointed by Carter to the United Nations in 1978 for the special session on disarmament.

The Fulbright Peace Fountain was designed by renowned architect E. Fay Jones and partner Maurice Jennings. Installed in August 1998, the sculpted bronze tower majestically rises to a height of 41 feet from a tiered granite base, from which the water cascades. The tower weighs nearly 12,000 pounds. Both Jones and Jennings graduated from the UA School of Architecture. Jones served as chairman of the UA Department of Architecture from 1966 to 1974 and as dean from 1974 - 1976. He also received a doctor of humane letters from the U of A in 1990. Among Jones many accomplishments is the highest honor bestowed in the field of architecture -- the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal, which was presented to him in 1990 by President Bush at the White House.

The fountain, funded by 115 individuals and 19 nations, was commissioned by the Fulbright College as a memorial to Fulbright, who died at his Washington home Feb. 9, 1995. Fulbright will long be remembered as one of the most influential men in not only the history of Arkansas but in the world. A 1924 graduate of the Uof A, Fulbright went on to serve as president of the University from 1939-1941 before being elected to Congress. After one term in the House of Representatives, he began what would become a 30-year stint in the Senate, 15 of which he served as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. Under his sponsorship, Congress approved legislation in 1946 establishing the Fulbright Exchange Program, the world's largest and most prestigious program of educational exchange. More than 200,000 students and scholars from around the world have been awarded Fulbright fellowships.

Known as an independent thinker, Fulbright was the only senator to vote against funding Joseph McCarthy's now infamous investigating committee. He sponsored legislation that led to the formation of the United Nations and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In 1982 the University of Arkansas College of Arts and Sciences was renamed in Fulbright's honor. The Fulbright Institute of International Relations also was established at the U of A at
that time.

###