CNN’s Amanpour to Replace Russert in Bryan Series on Nov. 18

Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, will replace the late Tim Russert in this year’s Bryan Series. She will present a program entitled “America and the World” with her husband, former Assistant Secretary of State James Rubin, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at War Memorial Auditorium.  Russert died suddenly on June 13.

Amanpour is best known for her reporting from war zones and hot spots around the world, ranging from Iraq and Afghanistan to the Balkans to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. Her work, the cornerstone for CNN’s coverage of major international events, includes exclusive interviews with figures such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Yasser Arafat, Tony Blair and Pervez Musharraf, among other world leaders

Her recent work has focused on the production of a series of highly acclaimed long-form programs that have aired across the CNN networks. In 2007, she presented a six-hour series on the world’s three leading monotheistic religions and their defenders, “God’s Warriors.”

Amanpour is the recipient of numerous honors, including two George Foster Peabody Awards and nine Emmy Awards. A native of London who lived in Iran as a child, Amanpour’s family left that country after  the 1979 coup. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

As assistant secretary of state and chief spokesman for the State Department, Rubin served as top adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and oversaw efforts to communicate with the public regarding foreign policy. Since leaving the State Department, he has been a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and Columbia University, and is a regular commentator for the Financial Times, the BBC and CNN.  He is a graduate of Columbia.

The 2008-09 Bryan Series opens with author Khaled Hosseini on Friday, Oct. 24. Following the Amanpour-Rubin program, the series continues with Salman Rushdie (Feb. 10) and Anna Quindlen (April 14).

Season passes are now on sale at the Greensboro Coliseum Advance Box Office, online at www.guilford.edu/bryanseries or by calling 336-218-5550.  Passes for new subscribers are $80. Single-event tickets are scheduled to be sold beginning Sept. 15.

For more information about the 2008-09 series’ speakers, visit www.guilford.edu/bryanseries.

June 24, 2008