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Robert Gibbs, former press secretary to President Barack Obama, will discuss “Communicating through the Chaos” of American politics on Sept. 13 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He will speak at 7 p.m. in Memorial Hall in a talk that is free to the public. Three lectureships will bring Gibbs to campus: the Eve M. Carson Memorial Speaker Series, the Hunt Lecture and the Hillard Gold ’39 Lecture.

Gibbs was an adviser and strategist to the president from the early days of Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate race through his election to the White House. Gibbs was Obama’s press secretary, presiding over daily media briefings, from 2009 to last January.

During four years of intense campaigning and close contact, Gibbs became an integral part of the president’s team. According to The New York Times, Gibbs advised Obama on politics, strategy and messaging and spent more time with him than any other adviser.

Gibbs, a graduate of North Carolina State University, also was press secretary for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. Previously he specialized in Senate campaigns, having served as communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and for four individual Senate campaigns.

The Eve M. Carson Memorial Speakers Series honors the late Carolina student body president and is sponsored by the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council and by Student Government, which changed the name of its Distinguished Speaker Series to honor Carson.

The Hunt Lecture honors the late Douglass Hunt, a Carolina alumnus and former treasury department official and, at UNC, vice chancellor and special assistant to the chancellor.

The Hillard Gold ’39 Lecture is hosted by Honors Carolina and the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences. It honors alumnus Hillard Gold, a 1939 Carolina graduate, and is made possible by a gift from alumni James and Jonathan Gold – of New York City and Pennsylvania, respectively – in honor of their late father.

For more information, visit http://www.johnstoncenter.unc.edu, or call (919) 966-5110.

College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Spurr, (919) 962-4093, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589