AMES, Iowa -- Carly Fiorina's Iowa State University appearance as the Fall 2008 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics -- originally scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 16 -- has been postponed. Fiorina's lecture will be rescheduled for a later date (to be announced).
Fiorina is the Republican National Committee's Victory '08 chairman, senior economic advisor to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO. Schedulers for Fiorina said she'd been asked to stay in Washington, D.C., with other McCain advisors as a result of serious economic developments on Wall Street over the weekend.
"We are pleased that Ms. Fiorina still plans to come to Iowa State, most likely after the election, to accept the Mary Louise Smith Chair honor and speak about women and leadership," said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, which hosts the Smith Chair event.
Fiorina is the 18th prominent woman leader to visit Iowa State under sponsorship of the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics, which was established in 1995 to honor the Iowa native and longtime political leader. Smith was the only woman to chair the Republican National Party (1974-1977).
Additional information on the Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women in Politics, including a complete list of the past speakers, is available at: http://www.las.iastate.edu/CattCenter/smithchair.shtml.