For release: Jan. 12, 1998
Contact:
Dennis Nealon
781-736-4205
From two who've been there; done it: Ann Richards and Patricia Schroeder to lead discussion on women in politics
Former Texas Gov. Ann W. Richards will join former Congresswoman Patricia S. Schroeder for a panel discussion on women's careers in politics Feb. 2 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass.
Free and open to the public, the student-run event will take place from 7-9 p.m. in the Spingold Theater Center.
Richards is a visiting professor at Brandeis this semester, co-teaching a course that offers an overview of American national and state politics. Schroeder is president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers Inc., and director of the Institute for Civil Society in Newton, Mass. They will be joined for the panel discussion by Susan J. Tolchin, professor of public administration at George Washington University, and Jytte Klausen, assistant professor of comparative politics at Brandeis and an affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard. Tolchin, author of The Angry American: How Voter Rage is Changing America, will moderate the group discussion. Klausen, the program's organizer, will chair the panel and introduce the participants.
According to Klausen, Richards and Schroeder were chosen because they are important former office holders whose experience is relevant to contemporary issues in American politics. Both have been asked to address what motivated them to seek careers in politics, as well as their views on the institutional changes needed to facilitate women's careers in public life.
The panel discussion is the lead event in a series of activities designed to give students a broad picture of the many options available to women who seek careers in and around government institutions, both nationally and internationally. On Jan. 25, students will hold a teach-in aimed at familiarizing them with the career accomplishments of both Richards and Schroeder, at creating questions for the two to address, and at establishing communication links with women's studies programs at other Boston-area schools.
The panel discussion is being sponsored by Brandeis's Department of Politics, the Women's Studies Program, the President's Office, and the Heller Graduate School.
Richards is teaching undergraduates at Brandeis this semester as the first Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Visiting Professor in politics. She is a senior advisor with Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, a Washington-based law firm with offices in Austin and Houston, Texas. Richards was elected state treasurer in Texas in 1982 and 1986, and was elected governor in 1990. She gained national attention with her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention.
The course Richards is teaching at Brandeis, "A Political Experience," offers an overview of American politics at the state and national levels.
Schroeder left Congress in 1996 after serving in the House of Representatives for 24 years. From January to June 1997, she was a professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, before assuming her post at AAP on June 1.
More information about the teach-in and panel discussion can be obtained by accessing a special web page, or by contacting graduate student Susan Schantz at 781-899-8627, or Professor Jytte Klausen at 781-736-2762.
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