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Published on 10/19/1998 All articles from this issue

Event celebrates Dick Henning, Celebrity Forum

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Special to the Town Crier

More than 400 guests attended the "Celebrating Dick Henning and 30 Years of the Celebrity Forum" dinner on Oct. 17 at Hyatt Rickeys in Palo Alto and raised more than $400,000 for the Foothill College Center for Innovation in Education.

The event featured celebrity entertainment by political satirist Mark Russell as well as presentations by Foothill College President Bernadine Chuck Fong and award-winning Foothill professor Elizabeth Barkley.

Celebrity Forum Speakers Series founder and recently retired Foothill dean Richard Henning was recognized for three decades of commitment to bringing many of the world's most influential artists, authors, politicians and scientists to Silicon Valley audiences. Henning began the Celebrity Forum series in 1968. The popular, sellout series moved from its home in the Foothill gym to the Flint Center at De Anza College in Cupertino in 1976.

In September, a second installment of the program, Celebrity Forum II, premiered at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts with a presentation by author Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Barkley, named the 1998 Carnegie Foundation California Professor of the Year, emceed the evening's activities.

Russell, the famed PBS satirist, kept the audience laughing for nearly an hour with spoofs on Henning's years at Foothill and his latest observations on Washington.

Proceeds from Henning's night will be used for renovation, computer equipment and furnishings at the Center for Innovation in Education. The facility will serve as a focal point for K-14 teacher training and an open access computer lab.

The celebration was hosted by the Foothill College Commission and organized by co-chairwomen Jan Fenwick and Ginny Lear.