New York Times bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell will be the debut speaker of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture Series on October 5. This year marks the third annual George T. Hunter Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Benwood Foundation in partnership with The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, The Ochs Center, and CreateHere.

“We are very excited to have Malcolm Gladwell kick off the George T. Hunter Lecture Series this year,” said Corinne Allen, Executive Director of the Benwood Foundation. “Mr. Gladwell is nationally respected for his valuable insight in the social sciences and his ability to make new and complex ideas accessible to all audiences.”

Past speakers have included Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, author and historian, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and New York Times columnist, David Brooks.

Gladwell’s lecture will begin at 7 p.m. in the Roland Hayes Concert Hall located inside the Fine Arts Center, located at Vine and Palmetto Streets. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and is on a first‐come first‐serve basis.

Gladwell has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. He is the author of four books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference (2000), Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (2005), and Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), all number one New York Times bestsellers. His latest book What the Dog Saw (2009) is a compilation of stories published in The New Yorker. In 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.

After Gladwell’s lecture, he will speak to UTC students, CreateHere fellows and community leaders.

“As in past years, the George T. Hunter Lecture Series offers an amazing learning opportunity for UTC students, faculty and staff,” said Dr. Roger Brown, Chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “We are pleased to welcome nationally renowned leaders in education, arts and culture, community development and the environment.”

Following Gladwell’s lecture on October 5, the remaining speakers of the 2010 – 2011 George T. Hunter Lecture series will be Newark Mayor Cory Booker; Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone; and international environmental scholar, Dr. Vandana Shiva.

For more information, visitwww.benwood.org.