SU to inaugurate new president

The inauguration of Dr. William N. Ruud as Shippensburg University's 15th president is on Oct. 26 at 10 a.m. in the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center.

The inauguration is part of homecoming events scheduled throughout that week and culminating with Homecoming on Oct. 27. Among the events that week is the President's Lecture Series featuring speaker Daniel Tammet at 8 p.m. Oct. 25 in the Luhrs Center. This program is open to the public.

Tammet is a high-functioning autistic savant. He can calculate huge sums in his head in seconds and instantaneously recognize prime numbers, but he finds emotions difficult to understand and has trouble telling left from right. One of fewer than 50 such people living worldwide, he is unique in his ability to articulate his savant experience. He describes his visual experience of numbers as complex shapes with color, texture and motion. In 2004, he set a European record when he recited the mathematical constant Pi from memory to 22,514 decimal places in a time

Tickets for his presentation are $15 and are available online at www.luhrscenter.com or by calling the box office at 477-SHOW.

The inauguration is open to the public and no tickets are needed to attend. Doors to the Luhrs Center will open at 8:30 a.m. and individuals are asked to be in their seats by 9:30 a.m.