KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Nobel Peace Prize nominee and New York Times best-selling author Greg Mortenson will give a lecture at the University of Kansas.

The lecture, which is the kickoff event for Into the Streets Week at KU, will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, at the Lied Center.

KU students may pick up free tickets at the Student Union Activities box office on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union. Faculty, staff and members of the public may purchase tickets for $10 each at the Lied Center box office or online at www.lied.ku.edu. The lecture will be followed by a book signing.

Mortenson is the co-founder and executive director of the Central Asia Institute. He founded the institute after his failed attempt at climbing K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth. He decided to dedicate his life to promoting education for children in remote regions of Pakistan in Afghanistan. To date, Mortenson has provided support to 170 schools and 68,000 children in the region. Mortenson’s book “Three Cups of Tea,” written with David Oliver Relin, is a New York Times bestseller, and he has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times.

The Center for Community Outreach provides opportunities for students to volunteer on campus and in Lawrence and the surrounding community. The center comprises 14 programs, each of which is run by two volunteer student coordinators. Into the Streets Week, a Center for Community Outreach program, is an annual series of events that strives to encourage volunteerism in the Lawrence community; activities this year will include the Big Event, a benefit concert for Japan and a homeless sleep-out.