Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley to speak at Lehigh

Former U.S. Senator, Olympian, NBA Hall of Famer and best-selling author Bill Bradley will present “We Can All Do Better,” the 2016 Kenner Lecture on Cultural Understanding and Tolerance on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. in Baker Hall.

Bradley represented the state of New Jersey in the U.S. Senate from 1979-1997 and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2000. Before serving in the Senate, he was an accomplished basketball player and won gold with the U.S. team in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. After receiving a degree in history from Princeton University in 1965, Bradley spent two years at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied literature and history.

Upon returning to the United States, Bradley joined the New York Knicks and played for the team from 1967-1977, during which time they won two NBA championships. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983.

Bradley has written several books on American politics, culture and economy, including the New York Times bestsellers Time Present, Time Past; The New American Story; and Values of the Game. In his most recent book, We Can All Do Better, Bradley offers a review of the state of our nation and provides “a no-holds-barred prescription on subjects including job creation, deficit reduction, education and immigration” and “champions the power of individual Americans to organize, speak out [and] bridge divisions.”

Bradley is currently a managing director of Allen & Company LLC, an investment bank in New York City. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of Starbucks Company and as the host of the weekly Sirius/XM Satellite Radio show American Voices.

The Kenner Lecture Series in the College of Arts and Sciences was endowed by Jeffrey L. Kenner ’65. Kenner, who studied industrial engineering and business administration at Lehigh, established the lecture series in 1997. After a career as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (then Price Waterhouse & Co.), he became involved in leveraged buyouts and venture capital. In 1986, Kenner formed his own firm, Kenner & Co. Inc. He served as a university trustee from 1995-2002, has long been a member of the university's Asa Packer and Tower Societies, and is a member of Leadership Plaza.

For more information about this event, contact the Office of Interdisciplinary Programs at 610-758-3996 or incasip@lehigh.edu.