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Emory University President James Wagner and a slate of Emory's best known and most provocative scholars will give a series of talks on issues challenging America and the world during a half-day program, "Where Courageous Inquiry Leads: Emory University at the National Press Club," on Wednesday, April 25. Wagner will present a breakfast address entitled "A Time for Courageous Universities," examining how and why society depends on universities to display courageous leadership in a time of passionate disagreements and differences. A question and answer session period will follow.

Following Wagner's keynote speech, three faculty panel discussions will examine some of the most controversial issues and choices facing this country:

• choices and tipping points in American healthcare;
• the shifting political tectonics of the American electorate in 2008; and
• American values in a changing world.

Panelists will address a wide range of topics, including the health-threatening scarcity of trained nurses at a time of increasing demand, the deepening regional divide in American politics, the rise of Barack Obama and other "third wave" black leaders, and the growing influence of Islam in the American melting pot.

The program is a reflection of the University's ambitious strategic plan, "Where Courageous Inquiry Leads," through which Emory has committed its unique combination of resources to address some of the toughest challenges and greatest opportunities facing the world today — from politics, religion, conflict and peace building, to race and social difference, to issues of global health and new understandings of what makes us human.

The schedule includes:

8–9:30 a.m.
Keynote: A Time for Courageous Universities (Ballroom)

• Introduction by Provost Earl Lewis
• President James Wagner

10–11:30 a.m.
America’s Health: Choices and Tipping Points (Lisagor Room)

Renowned leaders in the field will discuss what the future holds for our nation's health care system – including the staggering cost of chronic illness and obesity, nursing shortages, ER overcrowding and the need to develop a new model of "predictive health."

• Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Michael M.E. Johns, moderator
• Arthur Kellermann, professor and chair, emergency medicine
• Michelle Lampl, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Anthropology
• Marla E. Salmon, dean and professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
• Kenneth E. Thorpe, Robert W. Woodruff Professor and chair, health policy and management

10–11:30 a.m.
America Decides: Shifting Political Tectonics in 2008 (Murrow Room)

Emory's most insightful and popular experts on national, regional and minority politics, and the intricacies of the "political mind" will offer fresh commentary, new research and groundbreaking analysis.

• Alan Abramowitz, Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science
• Merle Black, Asa G. Candler Professor of Political Science
• Andra Gillespie, assistant professor of political science
• Drew Westen, professor of psychology

12:00–1:30 p.m.
American Values in a Changing World (First Amendment Lounge)

Three Emory scholars at the forefront of debates on American values will share their latest findings on issues ranging from families to Islam to international public health.

• Abdullahi An-Na’im, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law
• Martha Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law
• Claire Sterk, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Public Health, senior vice provost, academic planning and faculty development