February 5, 2025

Palm Beach Atlantic University Hosts Packed House For Its First LeMieux Speaker Series of 2025

LeMieux

(WEST PALM BEACH, FLA)Recently, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates was welcomed by a full audience during the LeMieux Center’s Annual Speaker Series hosted by Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA). The free, public event ushered in guests at the DeSantis Chapel for a fireside chat between Gates and Senator George S. LeMieux.

The LeMieux Center for Public Policy at PBA provides a space for reasoned, thoughtful and civil discourse on pressing public policy issues confronting Florida, the United States and the world. Students and the general public are invited to learn directly from esteemed policy experts and global thought leaders from a broad spectrum of disciplines.

“We’ve been doing this for 12 years to bring PBA students and the community together, to bring in speakers of consequence, to have important conversations that this community deserves,” said Senator LeMieux. “We’re in for a real treat tonight. Secretary Gates worked under eight presidents and eventually worked his way up to serving as the Secretary of Defense along with a whole list of other pursuits that have served the public good. A witness and maker of history – he is a patriot.”

Gates took the audience through his years of public service with light-hearted anecdotes, wisdom and humor. He shared decades of presidential strongpoints, strategic visions, their legacies and his overall takeaways on different international relations and foreign policy methods. He also addressed some of the most watershed moments the country has experienced, including the failed hostage rescue mission in Tehran, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Bin Laden raid.

“In my former role, you are in charge of a lot of people that can come in harm’s way. When you’re in a position where you have people who are working for you that are putting their lives on the line, it adds a certain weight,” said Gates. “But as I told students this afternoon, there is a lesson in my agreeing to be the dean at Texas A&M as a small favor to my friend and former president, George H.W. Bush. It can change the entire arc of your life as it led me to being the Secretary of Defense. Never miss the big opportunities that might come in front of you.”

The next speaker series will be held on April 1 with the former homeland security official, Elizabeth Neumann. For more information on the LeMieux Speaker Series, or to register for future events, please visit pba.edu/academics/schools/centers-of-excellence/lemieux/.

Palm Beach Atlantic University, founded in 1968, is a private, Christian university, offering 100 different programs and pathways, including undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The university has a 19-acre campus in West Palm Beach and an Orlando campus, and the 78-acre Marshall and Vera Lea Rinker Athletic Campus provides facilities for training and hosting intercollegiate sports. Sailfish athletes compete in 18 NCAA Division II and Sunshine State Conference varsity sports. PBA’s mission is to equip students to grow in wisdom, lead with conviction and serve God boldly. The university affirms the values that have built American society, including religious liberty and the free enterprise system. Learn more at www.pba.edu.

PBA’s LeMieux Center for Public Policy exists to address pressing public policy issues confronting both the United States and the world. One of the core values of the Center is to provide a space for reasoned, thoughtful, and civil discourse on topics that may be controversial or challenging.

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