U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor Tops List of Distinguished Speakers as Eagleton Institute of Politics Marks 60th Anniversary
Institute’s Center for American Women and Politics, Center for Public Interest Polling celebrate 45th anniversaries
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – A former U.S. senator who helped change the way America looks at its national pastime, and the first Hispanic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, top the lineup of speakers, initiatives and events marking Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics’ 60th anniversary.
Sen. George Mitchell, the principal investigator and author of the report bearing his name on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball in 2007, will visit Rutgers in October. A Democrat from Maine, Mitchell, who served from 1980 to 1995, will be the 2015 Clifford P. Case Professor of Public Affairs, named for the late U.S. senator from New Jersey (and Rutgers alumnus), who “consistently put principle above politics.”
Mitchell will deliver a public lecture on the U.S. role in a complex, changing world Oct. 29, 7:30 p.m., at Trayes Hall in the Douglass Student Center, New Brunswick. A special adviser to President Bill Clinton on Ireland and to Clinton and President Barack Obama on the Middle East, Mitchell will also meet with students and faculty.
Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the high court’s third woman Justice, will speak in April 2016. Bronx-born Justice Sotomayor, whose parents came from Puerto Rico, is the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. She will speak as part of the Louis J. Gambaccini Civic Engagement Series. Gambaccini, a well-respected transit executive, is perhaps best known for his role in creating New Jersey Transit. Details of Justice Sotomayor’s visit are forthcoming.
Eagleton will launch its anniversary speakers series in September with a conversation between Dale Russakoff, former longtime Washington Post reporter and author of the The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? and Kate Zernike, New York Times national correspondent. The discussion about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million quest to transform Newark’s public schools is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24, 5 p.m. at Eagleton, 191 Ryders Lane, New Brunswick.
Eagleton’s 60th anniversary coincides with the 45th anniversary of the institute’s Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) and the Center for Public Interest Polling, as well as Rutgers’ 250th anniversary. All programs in the 60th anniversary lecture series are free and open to the public but registration is required. Details and registration are available at eagleton.rutgers.edu.
“Building on our 60-year record of educating involved citizens and effective political leaders, the theme for Eagleton’s anniversary year is ‘Make it Better,’” said institute Director Ruth B. Mandel, Board of Governors Professor of Politics and senior scholar at CAWP.
“It is a call to action for the institute and our community to better understand how the U.S. political system works, how it changes, and how it can work better.”
On Sept. 28, Professor Gary Moncrief, university distinguished professor of political science emeritus from Boise State University, will address, “State Legislatures Today and the Legacy of Alan Rosenthal,” presented by the Alan Rosenthal Fund for the Study of State Governments and Politics. Rosenthal, the late former director of Eagleton, was the nation’s leading scholar on state legislatures. Montcrief’s presentation will be held 6 p.m. at Eagleton.
Zephyr Teachout, an associate professor at Fordham School of Law and CEO of Mayday PAC, a “crowd-funded Super PAC to end all Super PACs and the corruption of private money,” will speak as part of the Arthur J. Holland Program on Ethics in Government Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, at 7 p.m. at Trayes Hall. The program honors the late, longtime Trenton mayor and Rutgers alumnus.
Also in celebration of Eagleton’s anniversary, the institute is launching the Eagleton Science and Politics Workshop in 2015-16. Three sessions will give aspiring scientists and social scientists opportunities to learn about possible careers in research, government, government relations and the nonprofit sector. Dates and programs are forthcoming.
“The Eagleton Science and Politics Workshop highlights the need for significant improvement in communication between scientists and nonscientists, and more specifically, expanding the pool of scientifically trained graduates interested in public service careers,” Mandel said.
Eagleton’s Youth Political Participation Program (YPPP) and RU Voting campaign will be in full swing through Election Day, when the entire New Jersey General Assembly is up for re-election. YPPP has campuswide registration drives scheduled on Constitution Day (Sept. 17) and National Voter Registration Day (Sept. 22) as well as “Popcorn and Politics” gatherings to watch the Republican (Sept. 16) and Democratic candidate debates (Oct. 13).
To keep track of gender on the campaign trail, the Center for American Women and Politics has joined the Barbara Lee Family Foundation in Presidential Gender Watch 2016, a nonpartisan initiative to track, analyze and illuminate gender dynamics in the race for the White House.
The Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling will celebrate its 45th anniversary in December, when it conducts its 200th Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. Plans call for revisiting issues raised in the inaugural poll.