With just a few weeks until she arrives on campus, preparations are already underway for former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's April 3 Irvine Auditorium address. The ticket lottery for Albright's speech began on Tuesday at midnight and will continue until Saturday at 11:59 p.m. Albright, the first female Secretary of State and the highest-ranking woman to ever hold U.S. office, will speak at 8 p.m. Her speech will be cosponsored by Social Planning and Events Committee Connaissance and the Provost's Spotlight Series. "I think people are pretty excited about it," SPEC Connaissance publicity representative Kelly Perkins said. "I think she's generally going to be well received on campus." More people have entered the online lottery drawing than can be housed in the 1,100 seat auditorium, Perkins added. Connaissance leaders cited the changing presidential administrations as part of the reason for this year's speaker selection. According to Perkins, SPEC is expecting that Albright's speech will daw a similar response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fall 1999 address. The overwhelming interest in Albright's speech comes on the heels of last semester's disappointing showing for Connaissance speaker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The former NBA star drew a meager crowd of 200 to Irvine. Tickets are available to PennCard holders by an online lottery, which will last until March 24. Each person may purchase a maximum of two tickets at $10 a piece. Those interested can sign up for tickets online at www.specevents.com. Lottery winners will by notified via e-mail. Albright is expected to discuss her own past as well as her future vision for the nation, and her 45-minute address will be followed by a question and answer session.
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