Booker to kick off SSU Speaker Series in Lynn

LYNN – Called outspoken and inspirational, Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker will be the first speaker of Salem State University’s 2013 Speaker Series and will take the stage in Lynn.”This is big,” said Lynn Community Development Director James Marsh. “We’re testing the waters of something we’ve never done before and we’re doing it with a university. What better way to do it.”Booker will appear at Veterans Memorial Auditorium on April 7 as the kick off for the university’s popular speaker series that is entering its 31st year.Salem State President Patricia Meservey said the university is putting an addition on the O’Keefe Center, where the speaker series typically takes place. The construction coupled with a desire to take the series beyond the city limits led them to Lynn, she said.”Lynn has always been a very special neighbor,” she said.University spokesman Karen Cady said the event held Thursday in City Hall was about announcing the speaker series lineup as well as introducing supporters and potential sponsors to the auditorium.”I think this will be just perfect,” she said, nodding toward the auditorium.Brian Cranney, of Cranney Home Services, told a crowd of about 100 businessmen and women, city and state officials, and a handful of residents why he supports the series. He said as a sponsor he’s met artists, athletes and politicians, including more than one president of more than one country and he has pictures to prove it.”What are the chances of me having a conversation with South African Bishop Desmond Tutu?” he asked. “But it happened.”Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said it was nice to see so many people considering stepping up to sponsor the program.”And how wonderful to partner with Salem State to offer this luxurious but not overly ostentatious venue for the speakers series?” she said.Cynthia McGurren, the university’s Institute of Advancement vice president, also called the auditorium a gem.McGurren said she had been speaking with Marsh about the possibility of using the auditorium for some time before she actually visited to get a feel for what it had to offer.”I came to the Supertramp show with some colleagues,” she said. “I was enormously impressed with the professionalism of the staff, the stage, the sound, the lighting and the comfort of the venue.”McGurren said the more she thought about it the more she realized the series and Lynn was a perfect fit.”I think this opportunity opened a door ? it’s a great community, it’s great community outreach, a lot of our students and alumni live in Lynn,” she said.The second speaker in the series will be author and playwright Tony Kushner, probably best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Angels In America.” He is also up for an Academy Award, however, for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Lincoln” and will be joined on stage by Boston’s own Robin Young. Young, host of Here & Now on National Public Radio, was also one of the original hosts of “Evening Magazine,” the precursor of “Chronicle.” The pair will take the stage in Salem Nov. 13.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].