Tuesday, November 3, 2009
3:30-5:00 p.m. (Reception 3:00-3:30)
UVA, Harrison Institute for American History
(Auditorium, Lower Level)

The Context of Leadership

Governor Gerald L. Baliles

Abstract

In an election season, it is an appropriate moment to consider something that often receives too little attention, but is deeply relevant to the mission of higher education:  the attributes we should consider in choosing our elected leaders.  One central attribute, many would agree, is that a leader must have a liberal education.  Producing leaders is one of the core missions of a college or university and is something in which the University of Virginia has excelled.  On reflection, there are six key attributes to expect of elected leaders.  They are:  humility in power, hard work, speech craft, liberal education, legal knowledge, and political enthusiasm.

Biography

Governor Gerald L. Baliles, Director of the Miller Center
of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, served as
the 65th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  His
tenure as governor capped a career in public service that
included serving as the attorney general of Virginia
(1982-85) and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates
(1976-82). After leaving public office, he entered private
law practice as an international trade and aviation partner
in the firm of Hunton & Williams, LLP, headquartered in
Richmond, Virginia.

A member of the Virginia State Bar and the American Bar
Association, the Virginia Bar Association, and the Richmond
Bar Association, Baliles is admitted to practice at the 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
He serves on the corporate boards of Altria Group, Inc. and
the Norfolk Southern Corporation, and has served on the
boards of the Greater Richmond World Affairs Council; the
Greater Richmond Transportation Advocacy Board, and the
Richmond Symphony Council. He chaired the Commission to
Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry for the
President and Congress.  He has also served as chair of PBS
and throughout most of his professional life has been at
the forefront of activities related to preserving the
Chesapeake Bay. Always a champion of education, he founded
the Patrick County Education Foundation and served as
chairman of the Commission on the Academic Presidency and
for the Task Force on the State of the Presidency in Higher
Education, for the Association of Governing Boards of
Universities and Colleges.

In addition to eleven honorary degrees, Baliles holds a
bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from
the University of Virginia Law School.  He became the
Miller Center's fifth director in April 2006. Founded in
1975, the Miller Center is a nonpartisan public policy
institution devoted to studying, examining, and sharing
information about American government and the presidency,
and promoting discourse and bipartisan consensus on issues
of national and international policy.

Governor Baliles and his wife Robin reside in
Charlottesville, Virginia.

For more information contact, Saeed Eslambolchi, Center for
Transportation Studies, at se5q@virginia.edu or
434-924-6362.

This event is open to the public.