Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, will open the fall 2006 Assembly Series with a lecture entitled “Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Gharib and Beyond,” today.

Hersh has had a strong and varied career. Born on April 8, 1937, he went on to graduate from the University of Chicago. In 1967, he reported on the Vietnam War and, in 1969, won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for exposing the My Lai Massacre.

In 1972, Hersh began working for the New York Times and became a regular contributor for the New Yorker.

Hersh has written several books, including “The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House” in 1983 and “The Dark Side of Camelot” about the scandals of John F. Kennedy.

In addition to Hersh, there are several other unique individuals appearing throughout the Assembly Series. Bill Nye will be speaking Wednesday, Sept. 13. Nye was born in 1955 and later graduated from Cornell University. He is best known for his Emmy award winning educational show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which ran from 1992-1998.

Many students are excited about Nye’s arrival. Robyn Haas, a junior, said, “I always loved watching Bill Nye as a kid, and so it will be fun to actually get to see him in person. It will make a good story to tell my brother.”

Succeeding Nye will be David Robertson, the music director and conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his work with these orchestras, Robertson was the first person to serve simultaneously as Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Artistic Director of Lyon’s Auditorium.

The Sept. 26 lecture will highlight one of Washington University’s resident experts, Mark R. Rank. Rank is the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

In his lecture, he will discuss ideas from his book, “One Nation Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All.” Rank’s areas of research include poverty, social welfare, social policy, and economic inequality.

The series will continue with speakers Temple Grandin, a world-renowned professional designer of humane livestock facilities, Bonnie Oda Homsey, an actress and choreographer, and B.D. Wong, an actor for the hit show “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Wong is a noted actor with an exhaustive repertoire. He made his Broadway debut in “M. Butterfly,” and he is the only actor in history to be honored with the Tony Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Clarence Derwent Award, and the Theater World Award for the same performance.

Following Wong will be Marjane Satrapi, a graphic novelist and the author of “Persepolis” and “Embroideries,” Steven Strogatz, a professor in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and the Center for Applied Mechanics at Cornell University, and Richard Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago.

Bell Hooks, the Nov. 1 speaker, is a writer and social activist who has published over thirty books, ranging in topics from black men and masculinity to self-help, engaged pedagogy, sexuality, and the politics of visual culture.

The series will close with David Rieff giving the Holocaust Memorial Lecture. The only son of Susan Sontag, he is a nonfiction writer and policy analyst and has contributed many articles to publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Le Monde.

Post-Assembly Series Student Discussions (PASSD), which take place in Umrath at the conclusion of every lecture, continue the conversation of issues raised by the speakers. The discussions are limited to 25 students and free pizza is served.

The first one following the Seymour Hersh lecture will feature Ian MacMullen, the assistant dean and academic coordinator in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Sabah Al-Jadooa, an Iraqi citizen and a graduate of the University. Stuart Yoak, the executive officer for the Study of Ethics and Human Values said, “[These discussions] are an opportunity for students to carry on the discussion and conversation that happened during the lecture.”

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