Former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent to Deliver 2020 Kenner Lecture

Former U.S. Congressman Charlie Dent ’93G will present “A View from Inside the Trenches: The Politics of Anger and What Challenges Centrist Problem Solvers” as he delivers the 2020 Kenner Lecture on Cultural Understanding on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. in Baker Hall.

Dent, a Republican who represented the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives, served seven terms, from 2005 until 2018, when he stepped down. During his tenure, Dent was a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and led the Sub-committee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies, chaired the House Committee on Ethics, and served as the co-chair of the Tuesday Group.

Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he received a Master’s of Public Administration from Lehigh University in 1993. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Service and International Politics from Pennsylvania State University in 1982.

Dent currently is a senior policy advisor at DLA Piper, a global law firm. In this role, he provides his expertise on a wide range of local, state, federal and international matters. He also appears frequently as a political analyst for CNN, and is a Visiting Fellow for the University of Pennsylvania, Perry World House and a Distinguished Advisor for Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Kenner Lecture Series in the College of Arts and Sciences was endowed by Jeffrey L. Kenner ’65. Kenner, who studied industrial engineering and business administration at Lehigh, established the lecture series in 1997. After a career as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (then Price Waterhouse & Co.), he became involved in private equity and venture capital. Kenner formed his own firm, Kenner & Company. Inc. in 1986. He served as a Lehigh University trustee from 1995 to 2002 and was an early sponsor of the IBE [Integrated Business and Engineering] Honors Program. He has long been recognized as an Asa Packer Society and Tower Society donor and was inducted into Leadership Plaza in October 2000.

The 2020 Kenner Lecture is free and open to the public. This is a non-ticketed event. To reserve seating for groups of 10 or more, call 610.758.3996 or email incasip@lehigh.edu.

Story by Tabitha Nowak