Through personal contacts, speaker bureaus, letters and random telephone calls, the Lectures Program brings a variety of celebrities and political leaders to speak to the Iowa State community.

The program works in coordination with the various colleges, departments and organizations to investigate and recruit the featured speakers.

“The Iowa State Lectures Program is really successful in bringing in a variety of people,” said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. “[The program] is better and much more organized than what I am used to.”

Bystrom credits the success of the Lectures Program to its coordinator, Pat Miller.

“Pat has been here for a long time, and she knows a lot of people at Iowa State,” Bystrom said. “There is a lot of stability by having one person directing the program, and I am incredibly pleased to plug into that system.”

Both students and faculty members manage the Lectures Program and help schedule events for the school year.

Miller said the Lectures Program tries to plan events that people will want to participate in.

“We try to collaborate and co-sponsor to bring in speakers,” she said. “If someone can’t come one year, then we will keep trying until his schedule matches us.”

Bystrom and Miller said a lot of potential presidential candidates come through the area because of Iowa’s presidential caucus.

“We are in a national position in the political arena,” Bystrom said. “[Chuck] Grassley and Nancy Kassebaum Baker helped to get [Elizabeth] Dole by writing a letter on our behalf.”

Many speakers charge a speaker fee or honorarium unless they hold a political office.

Dole, who is rumored for presidential candidacy in 2000, is not charging ISU for her Feb. 19 visit to Stephens Auditorium.

“Dole’s policy while at the American Red Cross was to not charge academic institutions,” Bystrom said.

Miller said program officials try to negotiate fees since they tend to vary from speaker to speaker.

“A lot of these folks are really expensive, and we have to plan carefully to see who we can afford,” she said.

Many speakers, including Harvard scholars E. O. Wilson and Stephen J. Gould, heavy metal musician and Grammy winner Henry Rollins and cult film director John Waters have visited ISU and spoke in front of large audiences.

Miller said that a good mix of students, faculty and community members attend the speeches.