Tom Ridge to deliver the 2009 Scharf Lecture

Secretary Tom Ridge will deliver the 2009 Henry M. Scharf Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, November 18 at 7:30 PM in the Gettysburg College Union Building Ballroom. He will speak about his recent book The Test of Our Times: America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again.

Tom Ridge was sworn in as the first Director of the Office of Homeland Security on October 8, 2001. In this role, Ridge was charged with developing and coordinating a comprehensive national strategy to strengthen protections against terrorist threats or attacks in the United States.  On January 24, 2003, Ridge became the first Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Ridge was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania.  He served as the state's 43rd governor from 1995 to 2001.

Born in Pittsburgh's Steel Valley, Ridge was raised in a working class family in veterans' public housing in Erie. He earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating with honors in 1967. After his first year at The Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the US Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning to Pennsylvania, he earned his law degree and was in private practice before becoming assistant district attorney in Erie County. He was elected to Congress in 1982. He was the first enlisted Vietnam combat veteran elected to the US House, and was overwhelmingly re-elected six times.

Ridge serves on the boards of the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress and other private and public entities, and since 2005, has served as chairman of the National Organization on Disability. Secretary Ridge continues to contribute to matters concerning our nation's veterans and, along with Gen. Tommy Franks (Ret.), serves as national co-chairman of the Flight 93 Memorial Fundraising Campaign.

The Henry M. Scharf Memorial Lecture on Current Affairs is an annual lecture established by Dr. F. William Sunderman in 1977 to honor his long-time friend Henry Scharf, a member of Gettysburg College's class of 1925 and the builder of the Majestic Theater.

Within the broad focus of "current events," the Henry M. Scharf Lectures have provided a podium for many distinguished speakers. The 2007 Scharf Lecture was given by Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch and the 2008 Scharf Lecture by Secretary William T. Coleman.

This event is free and open to the public.