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Dirty Jobs’ host headed to Hobbs to speak

Dirty Jobs’ host headed to Hobbs to speak

The man who became known as “the dirtiest man on TV” will be coming to Hobbs this fall to talk about the value of vocational education while offering other insights.

Mike Rowe, who for eight seasons hosted “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel, is coming to Hobbs in September as part of the Jack Maddox Distinguished Lecture Series.

Hosted by the J. F Maddox Foundation and University of the Southwest, Rowe will speak on the value of vocational education at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the R.N. Tydings Auditorium on the Hobbs High School campus.

Rowe catapulted to national fame hosting “Dirty Jobs” for eight seasons until 2012. In the TV series on the Discovery Channel, Rowe, the show’s host and executive producer, performed difficult, strange, disgusting or messy occupational duties alongside typical employees, becoming perhaps America’s best-known “working man.”

He traveled to all 50 states and completed 300 different jobs, transforming cable television into a landscape of swamps, sewers, ice roads, coal mines, oil derricks, crab boats and lumberjack camps.

Rowe has had hundreds of jobs and has narrated hundreds of documentaries about space, nature, dinosaurs and how stuff works. As a public speaker, Fortune 500 companies routinely hire him to frighten employees with stories of maggot farmers and sheep castrators.

Most recently, Rowe can be found on Facebook Watch in the series “Returning the Favor,” where he searches for remarkable people making a difference in their communities and helps give back to those who pay it forward with humor, heart and surprise. In addition, Rowe launched “The Way I Heard It,” a five-minute podcast of short mysteries for the curious mind with a short attention span. In the podcast, Rowe gives a different take on people and events, from pop culture to politics and Hollywood to history.

Rowe also runs the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity that works hard to debunk myths about the trades and help close the skills gap.

Rowe speaks regularly about the nation’s dysfunctional relationship with work. He often challenges the belief that a four-year degree is automatically the best path for most people. To achieve its mission, Rowe’s foundation gives money to people getting trained for skilled jobs that are in demand through a variety of scholarship programs, including the Work Ethic Scholarship Program. Since its inception, the foundation has granted, or helped facilitate the granting of, more than $5 million in technical and vocational education for trade schools across the country.

In his spare time, Rowe keeps a lively conversation with more than 5 million Facebook friends, where he talks about everything from the musings of his persnickety terrier named Freddy to the merits and pitfalls of blind patriotism.

Tickets to see Rowe are free, however a ticket is needed to attend. Tickets will be available Aug. 1 for pick up at USW or online at www.eventbrite.com. For details and information, visit jfmaddox.org or call 575-492-2186.

Rowe will be signing books in the lobby after the event. Attendees may bring their own Mike Rowe book to have signed, or they can purchase one of his books in the lobby before or after the event.

The Jack Maddox Distinguished Lecture Series started in 1989 and has been hosted by USW. The purpose of the series is to contribute to the quality of life in Lea County and the surrounding area by providing nationally recognized speakers for intellectual stimulation and entertainment.

For further information and details on obtaining tickets, visit jfmaddox.org. For more information on Rowe, visit mikerowe.com.

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