The Hardball College Tour, hosted by Hardball anchor Chris Matthews, will visit the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) on Wednesday, December 4 to broadcast a new live episode. This episode will feature Jack Welch, the former chairman and chief executive of General Electric (GE), and will be open only to members of the University of Chicago community. The event will also be free for the audience.

“The event will take place at the Law School Auditorium, 1111 East 60th Street,” said Allan Friedman, executive director of communications for the GSB. “The audience will include students from the GSB, the Law School, and the College. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the one-hour program will begin at 8:00 p.m., but potential audience members are encouraged to arrive as early as possible, since seating will be both limited and available only on a first-come, first serve basis.”

“According to the people at Hardball, Mr. Welch said he wanted his television interview to be at the University of Chicago because of the impression the students here made on him during his appearance last year,” Friedman said. “He was here in October 2001 for ‘A Conversation with Jack Welch,’ conducted by Edward Snyder, Dean of the Graduate School of Business.” Welch will discuss issues surrounding the U.S. economy and corporate America.

Each episode of the Hardball College Tour features the “Hardball Hot Seat,” a contest in which students from the audience compete to win a $10,000 college scholarship. A student from the College will be selected to sit in the “Hardball Hot Seat.” A portion of the show will also encourage questions from the audience to Matthews and Welch.

The Hardball College Tour, which began on September 18, 2002 at the University of Minnesota, travels each week to a different college campus and features an important guest. Past visitors to the show have included Senator Hillary Clinton, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Hardball College Tour has previously been held at the University of Pennsylvania, the Citadel, Fordham University, and George Mason University, among other schools.