Karl Rove, Jamie Tworkowski and Tamika Catchings will headline the speakers Ball State University's Office of Student Life brings in this fall.
The three speakers for the fall were chosen because of events and themes for the next semester, Mitch Isaacs, associate director of student life, said.
"There was more than one reason why we chose these three speakers," he said. "These speakers will connect to themes we will see over the semester that we thought students should know more about."
Rove, the deputy chief of staff and senior advisor to President George W. Bush, will speak Sept. 13 in Emens about the importance of midterm elections. Isaacs said the office of student life was looking for a speaker that could get students interested in the 2010 mid term elections.
"Regardless of his political position, Rove knows a lot about campaigns and elections," Isaacs said. "Also, having a big-name conservative speaker was something students had been asking for a while now."
Rove was a main contributor for the president's 2000 and 2004 campaigns and has also worked with more than 75 Republican congressional and gubernatorial candidates in 24 states.
"He was an adviser for Bush for elections. You heard his name a lot during the presidential elections, not as often as Bush, but you heard of him too," he said. "He is a person a lot people have strong feelings about. He is the kind of person who people either really like and respect or really don't like."
After several students' requests, student life will bring Tworkowski, founder of To Write Love on Her Arms, to speak Nov. 8 in Pruis Hall.
TWLOHA started as a story Tworkowski told about his friend, who needed treatment. He started posting on a MySpace blog and began selling T-shirts. TWLOHA has the largest online audience of any non-profit on MySpace and Facebook. It has responded to almost 100,000 messages from more than 40 countries and donated almost $500,000 to treatment and recovery organizations.
"That [decision] was really student driven," Isaacs said. "what's funny is if you talk with someone 30 years old and over, they might not know about him or the organization. But students usually know and that is very interesting."
To go along with this year's Freshman connections theme of people overcoming disabilities to succeed, Catchings, a player for the Indiana Fever and president of the WNBA association, will be the third speaker for the Fall Semester.
Catchings is a six-time WNBA All-Star and seven-time All-WNBA player. She has earned WNBA Player of the Week honors 12 times. Catchings is a two-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States, medaling at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and again in 2008 in Beijing. Catchings also has a hearing disability she had to learn to cope with.
"We thought her speech would fit the theme for this year's freshman connections," he said. "And students usually request athletes to come give a speech."
Speaker lineup Fall 2010:
Karl Rove – 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, Emens Auditorium: "Why the Midterm Elections Matter"
Jamie Tworkoswi - 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 8, Pruis Hall: " Pain, Hope, Questions, and Community: An Evening with To Write Love on Her Arms"
Tamika Catchings – 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, Pruis Hall: "Overcoming Adversity"
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