FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Gen. Wesley Clark, retired, former commander of NATO and a former presidential candidate, will be the special guest speaker for the University of Arkansas’ first Veteran’s Week Celebration. 

Clark will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, at the Walton Arts Center. His speech is open to the public and admission is free, but tickets are required. Students and other campus members can pick up tickets at the Arkansas Union from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2; Thursday, Nov. 3; and, if still available, on Monday, Nov. 7. A university ID is needed to pick up a free ticket. Tickets are also available, free of charge, at the Walton Arts Center box office.

The event is sponsored by the student Distinguished Lecture Series, in cooperation with the University of Arkansas Veterans Week Celebration Committee.

Wesley Clark was born in Chicago but grew up in Little Rock and graduated from Hall High School. He is a graduate of West Point and a Vietnam veteran who served for 34 years in the U.S. Army and Department of Defense. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000. In 2002 he received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Arkansas.

Clark pursued an unsuccessful campaign for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He has a strong record for supporting U.S. veterans.

Clark’s lecture will be one of several events scheduled for the university’s Veteran’s Week Celebration, Nov. 7-12, which is being organized through the Veterans Resource and Information Center.

Clark will be the second of three speakers in the 2011 Distinguished Lecture Series for the fall semester. Aron Ralston, the mountain climber who was forced to amputate his own arm to save himself after a climbing accident, will speak at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28 at the Fayetteville Town Center. His talk is also free and open to the public, but no tickets will be required.

The Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Arkansas is a student-sponsored program. Speakers are chosen by a student committee, and the events are funded by a student-approved fee, appropriated by the Associated Student Government.