Community, campus leaders to speak at annual lecture series this weekend

PSU Weekend, a series of lectures this weekend for students, alumni and the general public, will be held on campus starting Friday.

Sponsored by the Portland State Alumni Association, this year’s event will feature 11 lectures by national experts in varying fields.

Best-selling author Frances Moore Lappe, most known for her 1971 book Diet For a Small Planet, will be present at the event’s Preview Night Party, to be held tonight at the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center (721 N.W. Ninth Ave.) at 6 p.m.

Lappe will also be speaking with students at an event today from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in room 228 of Smith Memorial Student Union and will present the event’s keynote address Oct. 27, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The keynote address will cost $30 for the general public and $10 for students.

Portland Commissioner Sam Adams and PSU professor Jennifer Dill will be among the speakers presenting lectures Saturday, speaking on Portland’s bicycle culture. Area pollster Lisa Grove will speak on political polling. Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk and PSU professor David Horowitz will also present lectures.

Other topics to be covered include the literary world, economics, opera and Portland’s public market.

These lectures will be held in SMSU Oct. 27, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. All lectures besides the keynote address are free.