BLOOMINGTON — Indiana University’s Union Board, in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ Culture Center, will host former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, at the IU Auditorium as the featured speaker in its “Speaking of Excellence” lecture series.
Buttigieg, who served as President Biden’s transportation secretary from 2021 to 2025. Before his cabinet appointment, Buttigieg was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, serving two terms and leading the city through its most robust period of economic and population growth in decades. A U.S. Navy Reserve officer, he also deployed to Afghanistan in 2014. In 2020, he made a notable bid for the Democratic nomination for president, winning the Iowa caucuses and finishing second in the New Hampshire primary. He is a leading Presidential contender for the 2028 Democratic Party primary.
The Union Board—one of the largest student programming organizations on campus—and the LGBTQ+ Culture Center have collaborated annually to bring nationally recognized LGBTQ+ figures to campus through the “Speaking of Excellence” series. Previous guests have included Tony Award‑winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson in October 2024 and actress and LGBTQ+ activist Hunter Schafer earlier in 2024.
