Harry T. Wilks Distinguished Lecture Series to present John Quinones

August 16, 2012

John Quinones, ABC News correspondent and host of the popular television show “What Would You Do?” will speak in Parrish Auditorium as the next installment of the Harry T. Wilks Distinguished Lecture Series at Miami University Hamilton.

Quinones will present “Overcoming Stereotypes” at 7:30 p.m. Wed., Sept. 12. The lecture is free and open to the public; however, tickets are required due to limited seating. To reserve tickets, contact Carla Ledford, ledforcd@MiamiOH.edu, 785-3020. Parrish Auditorium seats 455.

Quinones is the Emmy Award-winning co-anchor of ABC’s newsmagazine Primetime, and the sole anchor of the Primetime series “What Would You Do?” which is one of the highest rated newsmagazine franchises in recent years. During his 30-year tenure with ABC, Quinones has reported extensively for ABC News, predominately serving as a correspondent for Primetime and 20/20.

“What Would You Do?” captures the way people react when confronted with dilemmas that compel them to either act or walk away.

“This is the premiere lecture series at Miami Hamilton. It is a stellar series, to be sure, and it continues to inform and enlighten the campus and community on a wide variety of topics,” said G. Michael Pratt, Miami University associate provost and dean of the regional campuses.
The lecture series recently received a $50,000 gift from the person who established it more than a decade ago – retired Hamilton lawyer and businessman Harry T. Wilks. Earlier this year, Miami Hamilton received a $150,000 gift from Wilks, with which the campus established the Harry T. Wilks Scholarship in Integrative Studies, the first of its kind for Miami’s bachelor’s degree completion program offered exclusively at its regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown.

A long-time supporter and advocate of education, Wilks’ generosity has resulted in the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute in Oxford, and the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center, Scholarship Program, and Distinguished Lecture Series at Miami Hamilton.

“We’re grateful to Mr. Wilks for his continuing support, and Miami Hamilton is proud of its longtime relationship with him,” Pratt said.

Previous speakers for the Wilks Distinguished Lecture Series include former New York Governor Mario Cuomo; former White House spokesman Tony Snow; former Harvard professor and scientist Stephen J. Gould; American financial journalist Jane Bryant Quinn; American political columnist and commentator Mark Shields; political analyst and former senior advisor to three U.S. Presidents, Patrick J. Buchanan; Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and novelist Leonard Pitts, Jr.; current member of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council and former chair of the 9/11 Commission, Lee Hamilton; political reporter, television pundit and author Eleanor Clift, and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.
Wilks’ generosity has resulted in the Harry T. Wilks Leadership Institute in Oxford, and the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center, Scholarship Program, and Lecture Series at Miami Hamilton. He graduated from Miami in 1948, going on to earn his law degree from University of Cincinnati.

Now retired, Wilks was instrumental in establishing Hamilton and the “City of Sculpture,” including his fully-realized dream of an outdoor sculpture museum, the internationally known Pyramid Hill.

He is a current member of the Miami University Board of Trustees.