Madeline Kunin to Lecture at Bates

Madeline Kunin, deputy secretary of the United States Department of Education, will give a talk at Bates College on (Thursday) March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 204 of Carnegie Science Hall. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

Since her swearing-in more than two years ago, Kunin has played an integral policy-making role in both the Education Department and in the Clinton administration at large. Her talk will cover the federal budget in relation to educational issues such as student loans.

The first woman governor of Vermont, where she served three terms, Kunin has since played an important role in the string of federal education reforms that were enacted into law, including Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the School to Work Opportunities Act and the Safe Schools Act. She has also helped to develop the Clinton administration’s direct lending program, a simplification of the student loan process, and has coordinated the reform and streamlining of the Education Department’s management structure.

A leading voice nationally on issues involving reform and equal rights for women, she plays a prominent role in a broad range of areas. Kunin is the founder and former president of the non-profit Institute for Sustainable Growth, an international organization active in environmental education and management. A U.S. delegate to the recent United Nations-sponsored World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, she currently serves on the president’s task force on affirmative action.

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Kunin immigrated to the United States in 1940 as an escapee from the threat of Nazi terrorism. Her political memoir, “Living A Political Life,” was published by Knopf in 1994.

Kunin’s talk is sponsored by the Bates Democrats.