Media invited to panels on financial crisis, leadership Friday and Saturday

Media are invited to cover two panels hosted at Stanford University as part of Reunion Homecoming Weekend. Following are the press arrangements for the two events.

"Understanding the Financial Crisis and What It Means to You"

With housing prices falling, unemployment on the rise, and credit markets so frozen that even major corporations are having trouble financing inventory for the upcoming holiday season, many Americans are wondering how we got into this situation and what we can learn from crises of the past.

"Understanding the Financial Crisis and What It Means to You" is scheduled from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 10, in Memorial Auditorium, 551 Serra Mall at Galvez, on Stanford's campus. The panel discussion will feature John B. Shoven, director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; Anne Casscells, managing director of Aetos Capital; Darrell Duffie, professor of finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB); Dennis Lockhart, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; John Taylor, professor of economics at Stanford; and Mark Wolfson, consulting professor at he GSB and managing partner at Oak Hill Capital Management.

The event is not open to the public, but news media are invited to attend. Still and broadcast cameras will be allowed inside the auditorium. They must arrive by 9 a.m. A mult box will be available. Please register in advance by contacting Michelle Mosman at (650) 725-1872 or Ellen Moore at (650) 724-9278.

"Wanted: Courage, Compassion and CharacterLeadership for the 21st Century."

The third annual Roundtable at Stanford, "Wanted: Courage, Compassion and CharacterLeadership for the 21st Century," is scheduled from 9:15-11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at Maples Pavilion, 655 Campus Drive. The discussion will be moderated by Tom Brokaw and feature U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Gates Foundation CEO Jeff Raikes, Global Fund for Women CEO and President Kavita Ramdas, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, and Stanford President John Hennessy.

Panelists will discuss the kinds of sacrifices people should be prepared to make in the face of national and global threats and whether there is "Greatest Generation" of leaders for the 21st centuryleaders able to take on religious and ethnic violence, climate change, dwindling resources, economic turbulence, and poverty and disease among the world's most vulnerable populations.

This event is open to the public. Admission to the Roundtable is free for faculty, staff and students with a valid Stanford ID and for Reunion Homecoming participants with reunion nametags. The cost is $10 for all others.

There will be limited television-truck parking at the Maples Pavilion lot. Parking will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. No television cameras will be allowed inside Maples until the conclusion of the event, when some of the panelists will be available for interviews. A pre-lit, post-interview area will be available at the end of the Roundtable at the southeast corner inside Maples Pavilion.

During the Roundtable, the broadcast will be distributed at the production truck, located at the loading dock behind Maples Pavilion in both standard definition and high definition formats. There will be an audio pool only inside the hall at the press seating area. Still photographers will not be allowed on the floor during the Roundtable event. Non-flash photographs can be taken from the press seating area. A Stanford photographer will make photos of the event available Saturday afternoon at http://newsphotos.stanford.edu.

Media are asked to register in advance for this event by contacting Elaine Ray at (650) 723-7162 or Jack Hubbard at (650) 804-1576.