Dakota Wesleyan University will be celebrating the late senator George McGovern’s 100th birthday, 50th anniversary of the 1972 presidential campaign, and McGovern’s work to alleviate world hunger on Thursday.  Here is the list of events:

• 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.: McGovern Symposium including two papers on Sen. McGovern. Also, a photographic essay of the ’72 campaign presented by two campaign photographers will be present to discuss the campaign. (SBIL 117)

• 1 p.m.: The Stark lectureship will be presented by Professor Thomas Knock, author of the celebrated biography: George McGovern: The Rise of the Prairie Statesman. His talk will be called, “A Sense of History”: George McGovern’s Legacy and America’s Past and Present” (SBIL 117). Tom is a presidential historian of note and the chair of the history department at SMU in Dallas TX.

• 2 to 4 p.m. – We’re calling this “Facets of McGovern.” People who knew the senator well will speak briefly in a fast-paced retrospective on the McGovern legacy. (SBIL 117)

• 4:15 – 5:30 p.m. – Birthday Party for George in the McGovern Library. We’ll have campaign ephemera on display, cake and ice cream, a book signing and we may even sing “Happy Birthday” to the statue.

• 6:30 to 8:30 pm: Banquet in the Sherman Center. Our key speakers are Catherine Bertini who was the executive director of the World Food Programme for 10 years and worked closely with George who was the US Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. US Representative Jim McGovern will be the keynote speaker. He is no relation to Sen. McGovern, but he considers George his personal mentor. In 1972, while in 7th grade, Jim volunteered for the McGovern campaign in the only state McGovern actually won. Later, Jim was an intern for McGovern in the senate. He is a senior member of the House Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Nutrition and Oversight. He also serves as the Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and is the Democratic Co-Chair of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission – both of which monitor, investigate and advocate on behalf of international human rights, the rule of law, and good governance.

More details can be found at http://www.dwu.edu/mcgovernday.