Tarleton State University will welcome three distinguished professionals to campus to share their experiences as part of the inaugural installment of the University Leadership Forum, April 1, 2 and 4.

Scheduled to speak are Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, retired chief of NASA’s Astronomy and Relativity Programs and senior scientist for the Astronomical Data Center at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; Larry Dunham, systems engineer manager for Hubble space telescope operations and vice president of PPI Aerospace; and James F. Dicke II, chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment Corporation and former chairman of the Smithsonian Museum of Art’s board of commissioners.

The University Leadership Forum will begin at 2 p.m., Sunday, April 1, with the public invited to attend a reception honoring Dr. Roman in Tarleton’s Science Building. The event is sponsored by the Stephenville and Tarleton student chapters of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

The public is also invited to attend the second day of the Forum at 11 a.m., Monday, April 2, when Dunham will provide a lecture on business trends and the space industry in Room 182 at the College of Business Administration.

The Forum continues at 11 a.m., Wednesday, April 4, when the College of Liberal and Fine Arts welcomes Dicke to provide a public lecture on business and the arts inside the theater of the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center.

The University Leadership Forum was established to bring outstanding professionals to the Tarleton campus to share their real-world experiences, and practices and possibilities with students and the community through lecture, question-and-answer sessions, and one-on-one visits.

The lectures are designed to span the university’s curricula and demonstrate the importance of integrated learning and teaching, as well as to show how the Tarleton experience can expand students’ horizons as they prepare for real careers and achievements in their professions.