PARKERSBURG - Former Kentucky Gov. Martha Layne Collins will deliver the inaugural lecture of the 2009-2010 Coldwater Creek Lecture Series at noon Aug. 14 at the Parkersburg Country Club.

The series is made possible by a gift by Coldwater Creek to West Virginia University at Parkersburg. The 2009-2010 series will focus on topics related to entrepreneurship, including presentations on global issues, career options and state legislation related to entrepreneurship.

Collins' lecture topic will be "Entrepreneurship in a Global Economy." She was instrumental in bringing Toyota to Kentucky in the mid-1980s and continues to maintain a strong interest in global business issues. She serves as chair of the Kentucky World Trade Center. The lecture presentation is by invitation only.

In conjunction with the lecture series, a lunch-time panel discussion on "Being Entrepreneurial in an Economic Downturn" will be presented Aug. 13 for membership of the Economic Roundtable of the Ohio Valley as well as WVU Parkersburg faculty.

Serving on the panel will be state Sen. Karen Facemyer who also serves as president of the Polymer Alliance Zone; Doug Kreinik, owner/operator of Kreinik Manufacturing Co., an international enterprise located in Parkersburg, and Chip Pickering of Davis Pickering & Co. Inc., a full-service electrical contracting company in Marietta.

After leaving the governor's office, she served as president of St. Catharine College for six years; as the executive-in-residence at the University of Louisville's School of Business, and as the director of the International Business and Management Center at the University of Kentucky. Currently, she serves as the chairman of the Kentucky World Trade Center's Board of Directors.