Contact: Bruce Conley, News Information Director
Phone: (605) 274-5526
Fax: (605) 274-4903
e-mail: bruce_conley@augie.edu
www.augie.edu

April 4, 2003

Newt Gingrich and Susan Dentzer Boe Forum Speakers

SIOUX FALLS - Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Susan Dentzer, on-air correspondent with the NewsHour, are the speakers for the 2003 Boe Forum Tuesday, May 13, at Augustana College.

The purpose of their presentations, which begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Elmen Center, is to give a clearer understanding of the issues involved in achieving high-quality, affordable health and long-term care for Americans. “The American Health Care System: Is Change Possible?” is the theme.

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required for admission. Four tickets per couple may be picked up in person at the Center For Western Studies Fantle Building, 2201 S. Summit Avenue, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, and Friday, May 2. Tickets may be requested by mail, using a return stamped envelope. Phone (605) 274-4590 for information.

Gingrich is the author of a new book titled, “Saving Lives and Saving Money,” which outlines how to transform health and healthcare into the 21st century. He served as a member of Congress for 20 years, and as Speaker of the House from 1995-1999. Under his leadership, Congress passed welfare reform, the first balanced budget in a generation, and the first tax cuts in 16 years. Time magazine named him Man of the Year for 1995 and said, “Leaders make things possible. Exceptional leaders make them inevitable. Newt Gingrich belongs in the category of exceptional.”

Widely recognized for his commitment to a better system of health care for all Americans, Gingrich's leadership helped save Medicare from bankruptcy, prompted FDA reform to help the seriously ill, and initiated a new focus on research, prevention, and wellness. The March of Dimes named him its 1995 Georgia Citizen of the Year. He is a board member of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

Gingrich will hold a news conference at 2:00 p.m. May 13 at Augustana.

The title of his Boe Forum address is “Healthcare in the 21st Century: Saving Lives and Saving Money.”

In her role with “The NewsHour” on PBS, Dentzer leads a unit dedicated to providing in-depth coverage of health care, health policy, and Social Security reform. The health unit received the 2000 Robinson Electronic Media Award by the American Psychiatric Association for its report on schizophrenia.

Her work in television has included appearances as a regular analyst on ABC's Nightline and PBS' Washington Week in Review. She has also been a panelist on CNN's Late Edition and Inside Politics, The McLaughlin Group, Fox Morning News, and C-SPAN.

Dentzer's Boe Forum topic is “The Funding Nightmare: Is Order Possible Among Government and Private Programs.”

She will hold a news conference at 4:30 p.m. on May 13 in the Morrison Commons Siverson Lounge. At 5:00 p.m. she will be the guest of Augustana students for dinner and will speak on “Meeting the Challenge of Special Interests Groups in the Health-care Field.”

The Boe Forum series of lectures, sponsored by the Center for Western Studies, began in 1995 with now Secretary of State Colin Powell the featured speaker. George Bush, the 41st President of the United States, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Major, Mrs. Barbara Bush, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Queen Noor of Jordan have also been featured.

The creator of the series, the late Nils Boe, former Governor of South Dakota, established a trust fund in order to bring such world leaders to his home state to “address issues of current national concern and broad public interest,” and he commissioned the Center for Western Studies to carry out the program in perpetuity.