News releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
04/18/05

UPCOMING UW-MADISON LECTURES FEATURE PROMINENT STATE, NATIONAL LEADERS

MADISON - The University of Wisconsin-Madison will play host later this month to lectures featuring prominent leaders of national and global issues who may be of interest to reporters. Lectures include:

- April 22: U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.;

- April 26, Phillip Swagel, former chief of staff, White House Council of Economic Advisers;

- April 27: Dr. Mary Helena Allegretti, the Brazilian Ministry of Environment's national secretary for the Amazon region.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold to deliver annual Law School Fairchild lecture

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold will deliver a lecture titled "Upholding and Oath to the Constitution: A Legislator's Responsibilities" on Friday, April 22 at 4 p.m. in room 2260 at the UW-Madison Law School.

Although seats are no longer available to the general public because of heavy demand, media wishing to cover the event can still arrange seating by contacting Lynn Thompson at (608) 262-4915 or lfthomp1@wisc.edu before noon on Friday.

Feingold will deliver the Thomas E. Fairchild Lecture, which was established at the Law School as a tribute to the 1937 graduate who went on to serve as a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and now judge on active senior status on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Former White House economic advisor to speak on campus April 26

The former chief of staff for the White House Council of Economic Advisers will speak at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on Tuesday, April 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in room 8411 of the Social Science Building, 1180 Observatory Drive.

Phillip Swagel, now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, will present a public talk entitled "The Economic Agenda: A View from the Trenches." Swagel will discuss the broad sweep of U.S. economic policy and talk about Social Security, tax reform, health care, tort reform and international trade. He will touch on the policy-making process and political constraints affecting that process.

He joined the American Enterprise Institute earlier in 2005 after more than two years as chief of staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Swagel writes on a range of topics, including international trade policy, international finance, and the political economy of taxation and the welfare state. At American Enterprise Institute, Swagel focuses on international trade and financial policy.

Contact: Menzie Chinn, (608) 262-7397, mchinn@lafollette.wisc.edu

Brazilian environmental official to speak April 27 on Amazon issues

The overseer of government environmental policy for much of the world's largest tropical rainforest will speak April 27 at UW-Madison.

Dr. Mary Helena Allegretti, the Brazilian Ministry of Environment's national secretary for the Amazon region, will give a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, in Memorial Union's Tripp Commons. Her topic is "Environmental Governance in Brazilian Amazonia: Conservationists, Developers and Social Movements."

Allegretti has worked extensively on issues of sustainable development and indigenous rights and political participation in the Brazilian Amazon. She has been a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, Global Environment Facility, Inter-American Development Bank, and World Resources Institute.

An internationally known activist-scholar, Allegretti has lectured and participated in policy forums worldwide. Her writings on the rise of the rubber tapper movement and on extractive reserves are often cited in international literature on environment and development.

Allegretti currently is a Tinker Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago. Her UW-Madison lecture is co-sponsored by the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program with financial support from the Holstrom Environmental Endowment and the Tinker Foundation.

CONTACT: Tom Sinclair, 263-5599, tksincla@wisc.edu.

Other upcoming events of note:

- Friday, April 22: WISA Intercultural Night 2005, "International Academy Awards." Celebrate the cultures of the world with diverse cultural performances and presentations. Wisconsin Union Theater and Great Hall, Memorial Union, 7-10 p.m.

Contact: (608) 232-1172, cochair-i@uwwisa.org

- Thursday, April 28: "Student Shadow Day." High students from around the state will be paired with current UW-Madison students for a daylong experience on campus. Though the program is designed for high school students of color and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students, any other students interested in learning more about the university and the advantages of higher education are also welcome.

Contact: Bradley Schmock (608) 265-4276, schmock@wisc.edu