Penn State is hosting a plethora of speakers this school year through the Penn State Forum series.

The lecture series, which will feature 13 speakers, begins next Friday with Charles Bierbauer, a senior Washington, D.C., correspondent for CNN.

The topic of his presentation is "Back to class. . .after all these years," which will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Nittany Lion Inn ballroom.

"Charles is a wealth of experience in journalism," said Robert Richards, associate dean of the College of Communications.

"I think that he will clearly add a new dimension to the great speakers they have already had in the Penn State Forum."

Bierbauer has covered a multitude of beats as a reporter, including the Supreme Court, the White House, the federal budget, tax reform and health care.

He is now back in school as a lecturer, teaching a media and a government course for the College of Communications' Washington, D.C., program, in which students spend a semester studying in the nation's capital.

And Bierbauer is no stranger to Penn State.

He earned his bachelor's degrees in journalism and Russian and a master's degree in journalism from Penn State.

The university has made him a distinguished alumnus and an alumni fellow.

The lecture series Bierbauer is participating in is financially supported by the Penn State Bookstore and is a product of the Faculty Staff Club that began four years ago. I

t is modeled after the National Press Club, where a moderator takes written questions from the audience and poses them to the speaker.

"It is a very successful series," said Robert Secor, vice-provost for academic affairs and co-chair of the Penn State Forum.

"We get speakers from all walks of life. Occasionally we have speakers from our own faculty," Secor said. "We try to get a balance in terms of the kinds of topics and kinds of speakers."

The tickets for Bierbauer's lecture are almost sold out, said David Rose, manager of ID+ office.

Tickets are available by reservation or at the door.

The $11 price includes lunch.

Generally, there are two student tables at each forum, said George Bugyi, executive secretary of the Faculty Senate.

One is sponsored by the Penn State Bookstore and is for student leaders of student organizations. The second table is assigned to a college related to the speaker and is sponsored by Barash Advertising.

For Bierbauer's lecture, the table is for the College of Communications.

"Students will ask questions of the speaker. Students get involved in the series," Bugyi said.

Most of the attendees of the series' lectures, however, are not students.

"For the most part, it's university staff and departments. Most of these sales have not been students," Rose said.

The forum encourages student participation.

"It is very much of interest to students. We would like to see more students attending," Secor said.

But the public also is welcome to attend.

"It's open to everyone in the community. It's a town/gown type of thing," Bugyi said.