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• Jon Huntsman, former U.S. ambassador to China, presenting O'Meara Lecture at Indiana University

Jon Huntsman, former U.S. ambassador to China, presenting O'Meara Lecture at Indiana University

• Sept. 8, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Editors: Huntsman will be available to meet with reporters, in advance of his lecture, at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 16 in the Faculty Room of the University Club, located on the first floor of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Jon M. Huntsman Jr., former governor of Utah and former U.S. ambassador to China, who has served four U.S. presidents in critical roles around the world, will present the fifth annual Patrick O'Meara International Lecture on Sept. 16 at Indiana University Bloomington.

Huntsman’s lecture, "U.S. and China: Challenges and Opportunities," will take place at 4 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 E. Seventh St.

The lecture, presented by the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, is free and open to the public. No tickets or advance registration is needed. A reception will follow. The lecture also will be streamed live at broadcast.iu.edu, where archived video also will be available later.

Given recent economic developments in China, including its decision to devalue its currency and volatile market conditions, Huntsman’s address will be especially timely.

“The O’Meara Lecture is designed to bring the best international knowledge and experience to Bloomington each year,” said David Zaret, IU vice president for international affairs. “With his past experience on the ground in China as U.S. ambassador and his current work as head of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council, an organization that for half a century has studied and analyzed international policy, Gov. Huntsman is an eminently appropriate speaker for this lecture series."

Huntsman began his career in public service as a staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He has since served presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, in positions including ambassador to Singapore, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for Asia, U.S. Trade ambassador and, most recently, U.S. ambassador to China, from 2009 to 2011.

Twice elected as Utah's governor, Huntsman brought about strong economic reforms, tripled the state’s rainy day fund and helped bring unemployment rates to historic lows. During his tenure, Utah was named the best-managed state in America and best state in which to do business.

In 2011-12, he ran as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. He left the race in early 2012 following a third-place finish in the New Hampshire primary.

Today, he serves as chairman of the Atlantic Council and co-founder and honorary co-chair of No Labels, as well as serving on the boards of Ford Motor Co., Caterpillar Corp., Chevron Corp., Huntsman Corp., the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania.

He is a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institute, a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a trustee of the Reagan Presidential Foundation and chairman of The Huntsman Cancer Foundation.

He has served as a visiting fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government as well as a distinguished lecturer at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. He is a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania and has seven honorary doctorate degrees.

The O’Meara Lecture was established in 2011 to honor Patrick O’Meara, IU vice president emeritus of international affairs. It brings to the IU Bloomington campus distinguished speakers who address critical topics in international affairs.

For more than four decades, O’Meara served as IU’s ambassador to the world. A faculty member in the Department of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, he directed IU’s African Studies Program, was dean of international programs and was IU’s first vice president for international affairs.

For decades, IU has been a leader in international studies, teaching more foreign languages than almost any other American institution of higher education. Today, it is home to area studies centers for every continent of the world other than Antarctica. This fall, classes began in a new building serving as the home of the interdisciplinary School of Global and International Studies.

For more information about the lecture, contact the IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs at ovpia@iu.edu or 812-855-5021.

Related Links

• IU Office of the Vice President for International Affairs