Institute Insider

The Women and Politics Reading Group will discuss Barbara Jordan: American Hero by Mary Beth Rogers at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23, in Freeman Commons (205 HHH). Barbara Jordan was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention. Yet Jordan herself remained a mystery, a woman so private that even her close friends did not know the name of the illness that debilitated her for two decades until it struck her down at the age of fifty-nine. In Barbara Jordan, Mary Beth Rogers explores the life of this extraordinary woman. All are welcome. For more information, contact Deb Fitzpatrick at (612) 625-7176.

Senior Fellow Harry Boyte will talk about “Re-inspiring Citizenship in the 2008 Election” from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 24, at the Weisman Art Museum. Other panelists include WCCO news anchor Don Shelby, who wrote the forward in Boyte’s recent book, The Citizen Solution: How You Can Make A Difference. Admission is free, but registration is required by calling (612) 625-9494. The program is presented in conjunction with the Weisman’s new exhibit By the People, for the People: New Deal Art.

The American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (USETC), and the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs are sponsoring the 2008 International Conference on Public Administration (ICPA). The conference will be held at the University of Minnesota September 24-26, 2008. The conference theme, Building Bridges to the Future: Leadership and Collaboration in Public Administration, focuses on creating stable bridges to the future to ensure that issues and challenges such as privatization and information communication are turned into opportunities, not obstacles.