Penn to Host "Impact '08 in Pennsylvania: Building a Better, Safer World"

PHILADELPHIA -- Henry Kissinger and Robert Rubin are among national leaders who will speak Oct. 22 at the University of Pennsylvania as part of “Impact ’08 in Pennsylvania: Building a Better Safer World.”

The meeting is sponsored by the Center for U.S. Global Engagement with support from Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication, the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Other participants will include Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who will be introduced by Amy Gutmann, Penn president and a prominent political scientist.

The program is part of Center’s signature presidential initiative, “Impact ’08: Building a Better, Safer World.” The Center has been holding events across the country since October 2007.

Kissinger, a former secretary of state, and Rubin, a former treasury secretary, will be part of a panel discussing the global challenges facing the next president and the importance of elevating and strengthening support for global development and diplomacy as an integral part of America’s foreign-policy and national-security strategy. CNN Special Correspondent Frank Sesno will moderate the discussion. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell, and former Navy Secretary John Lehman are also scheduled to speak.

The program, which will be from 6 to 9 p.m., will be held at Penn’s Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut St., and is open to the news media.