On another occasion, senior Scott Jennings was immersed in conversation with Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing. The ambassador told Jennings that he had always wanted to visit Kentucky because one of his favorite songs as a boy was My Old Kentucky Home.

Such up-close and personal encounters with world leaders and other celebrities are rare for ordinary citizens, but they have become almost routine at U of L, thanks to the McConnell Center for Political Leadership, the Kentucky Author Forum and other groups who bring notable speakers to campus.

The McConnell Connection

The McConnell Center, named for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell '64A, has been responsible for a virtual parade of who's who in world, national and state politics to campus since its creation by the board of trustees in September 1991. Its endowment includes funds for 10 McConnell Scholarships awarded each year to high school students throughout Kentucky who demonstrate leadership potential.

Among other political leaders hosted by the center are former Secretary of State George Schultz, current Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bill Bradley, Israeli Ambassador Itamar Rabinovitch and Egyptian Ambassador Ahmed Maher El Sayed. Former Secretary of Defense William Perry was a guest in January and Sen. Robert Byrd will appear April 17.

The center also took advantage of visits to Louisville by Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, arranging for the McConnell Scholars to meet these dignitaries when they were in town.

Typically, the students are invited to breakfast or lunch with the guest and participate in a discussion or question-and-answer session. Then the political leader gives an address that is open to the general public.

"It's unimaginable for a student to be in Dawson Springs, where I'm from, or Morehead or Hopkins County one minute and the next minute be speaking to the Chinese ambassador or Madeline Albright," says Jennings, former chair of the McConnell Scholars. "In that regard, it's astounding."

Jennings adds that being able to actually meet world leaders who they would normally only see on television or read about in the newspapers offers students a rare educational opportunity.

"You can look them in the eye and see their mannerisms and body language," he notes. "It's a valuable perspective on leadership and the way they act and carry themselves when they're not in front of a camera."

Aside from the reference to Kentucky, Ambassador Li also discussed more substantive issues with the students, referring frequently to the relationship between China and the United States.

Jennings, who works as an anchor and reporter for WHAS radio and the Kentucky News Network while he is in school, says Li talked about how China and the United States can't be viewed as just two countries among all the others. They are above other countries, he told the students, by virtue of their military and industrial power.

"He said that China is still catching up to the United States as far as industrialization, but it was happening," Jennings says. "And for that reason, he told us, the U.S. and China must work together through education and cultural exchanges."

Li added that if there is to be peace in the world, China and the United States must be at peace.

Wilkinson is impressed not only with the visiting dignitaries' willingness to interact with students, but with their openness, too.

"You can learn a lot about a person in casual conversation," she maintains. "For instance, with Mr. Baker we didn't talk a lot about politics. We talked about his life, his experiences and how he got where he is today."

Senior Melissa Farmer, London, Ky., says that she and the other McConnell Scholars have met "some very high-profile people." Each student has his or her favorite; Farmer's was Albright. "She was very well-received," Farmer says. "She's dignified and eloquent. You see her on the news every day and there she was at the University Club! Not many people from southeastern Kentucky get an opportunity like that."

Paul Weber served as director of the McConnell Center from 1991 until January when he became associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He thinks exposing students to such renowned leaders broadens their horizons.

"It shows students, 'I, too, can aspire and dream,' " he says. "One other thing that happens is it gets people thinking internationally. Students can analyze and look at things in a critical light. That's valuable, too," he adds.

Weber was succeeded at the start of the year by Gary Gregg. Gregg had been national director of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Del., where he managed an educational program that reached more than 45,000 college students and professors around the country.

In working on hundreds of campuses over the past three years, Gregg says he has never seen an institution offer the quality of speakers that U of L does through the McConnell Center. He sees the program as a great opportunity to influence students for the better, one with unparalleled potential for growth.

"Students at most colleges and universities are relegated to simply reading about the statesmen influencing our world today," Gregg says. "Here at U of L, they get to meet and interact with them as human beings. Such an opportunity cannot be overestimated."

The McConnell Center also strives to remind students and the community about great American politicians of the past and the lessons they might teach future leaders. As such, it inaugurated the annual McConnell Forum on Statesmanship. The first, held appropriately on Presidents' Day (Feb. 21), examined George Washington.

Along with its value to students, the center's program brings U of L prestige.

"It's extremely valuable to the university," Connie Wilkinson says. "I think it's looked on very highly at other schools. People need to understand that it's a big deal and that it's truly unique."

The center also gives U of L students access to internships they would otherwise not be able to participate in and sponsors annual trips, nationally and internationally. Jennings, for example, is one of nine McConnell Scholars headed for China. They'll tour the country and take two classes for academic credit focusing on Chinese art, history and religion. The groups leaves May 31 and will be in China six weeks.

"The program has turned into something that is a very large feather in the university's cap," Jennings says.

Erin Simpson, a junior from Russell, Ky., succeeded Jennings as McConnell Scholars chairperson in January. She calls their experiences with the guest speakers "a once-in-a-lifetime thing."

"The combination of top speakers, course work, travel and practical internship experience makes the McConnell program a shining spot in higher education," Gregg adds.

KAF, Axton Series Link VIPs, Too

In addition to the McConnell Center's guests, U of L students have a chance to hear numerous other celebrities because of university participation in other speakers' series.

One especially active group is the Kentucky Author Forum (KAF). The forum is sponsored by U of L in a cooperative effort whose original partners included the Kentucky Center for the Arts, Hawley-Cooke Booksellers and the Louisville Free Public Library.

Since its inception in early 1996, the forum has brought a diverse body of celebrities to campus‹everyone from Sister Helen Prejean, a national expert on the death penalty whose book was the basis for the movie Dead Man Walking, to super-athlete Carl Lewis. Among the forum's 1999 lineup were astronaut and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn, anthropologist Jane Goodall and author Frances Mayes.

Students are able to meet each speaker during a book signing and question-and-answer session on campus. This event is also open to the public.

Directly after, the program goes international via National Public Radio and its Internet global chat room, also coming live from the U of L campus. That evening, the speaker appears in a community event taped by KET.

Mary Moss Greenebaum, KAF producer and one of its creators (along with Martha Neal Cooke of Hawley Cooke Booksellers and U of L President John Shumaker) says the forum was designed to offer students and faculty access to major personalities who have not only written books, but have helped change our country and be-yond. And it's done just that, she adds.

"The forum is a dialogue, not a speech," Greenbaum says. "Whether with students and faculty on campus or with the community at the evening event, the forum offers personal access to authors, their body of work and their life philosophies.

"The forum is making a big impact as we work through NPR on the global chat room and distribute nationally to public television," she adds. "It says to authors and publishers that the energy and credit for this effort lies with our university and its push for excellence. "Most importantly, it draws the community and university together, which is just what Dr. Shumaker had in mind."

Yet other speakers, including U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky and visiting professor Lilliana Ursu, a noted poet and fiction writer from Romania, have been sponsored by the Anne and William Axton Reading Series. This endowed series is administered by U of L's creative writing program under the direction of professor Jeffrey Skinner.

Axton '51A served on the English department's faculty from 1967 until he retired in 1990. He died on Jan. 25.

The Axtons said they underwrote the program because it is important for aspiring writers to interact with authors and share their viewpoints.

"Everyone needs a model for success," Skinner adds. "The series allows us to bring in a diverse group of writers who have had this success and lets students meet and be taught by them."

Such interchange is a key goal of all the U of L speakers' programs and is what sets it apart from so many others.

As Erin Simpson observes, "My friends at other universities are amazed that we get such intimate contact with such leaders. We have remarkable exchanges with very powerful people.

"It's pretty phenomenal."

Russ Brown is a senior writer for Louisville SportsReport and a frequent UofL contributor.

Photos: Tom Fougerousse