Former EPA chief Whitman to speak Feb. 7 on U.S. environmental issues
Author: Arts and Letters
Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency and governor of New Jersey, will deliver a lecture titled "Shaping the Future: America's Environment Today" at 4p.m. Feb. 7 (Wednesday) in the Leighton Concert Hall of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at the University of Notre Dame.
The lecture and a question-and-answer session are open to the public. There is no charge for admission, but tickets are required and can be reserved at 574-631-2800.
Appointed by President Bush to head the EPA in 2001, Whitman served for two years as chief of the nation's environmental affairs. She served for the previous seven years as the first female governor of New Jersey. Known for her focus on environmental issues, she promoted solutions to the complex natural problems facing the United States.
Drawing on her insight from the highest levels of political administration, Whitman plans to discuss issues such as the preservation of watersheds, ensuring clean air and safe food, and protection from toxic waste. Under her administration, beach closings in New Jersey reached a record low as Whitman worked to clean up the state's waterways and coasts. As EPA administrator, she sponsored national initiatives to reduce sulfur emissions and to promote the redevelopment of previously contaminated industrial sites.
Currently the president of the Whitman Strategy Group, Whitman now guides private sector organizations on environmental and energy issues. She also serves on a number of non-profit and corporate boards, including the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
Whitman's visit to Notre Dame is sponsored by the Seng Foundation Endowment for Market-Based Programs and Catholic Values and hosted by the Department of Economics and Econometrics along with the College of Arts and Letters. Established in 2001 by David and Erin McCabe Seng, the Seng Endowment seeks to support scholarship and teaching on market-based economic models designed to increase living standards, encourage ethical conduct, and promote social justice in the Catholic tradition. A fundamental principle of the endowment is to expose students, faculty, alumni and others to the potential of market-based principles through interaction with policy makers such as Whitman.
Originally published by Kyle Chamberlin at newsinfo.nd.edu on January 30, 2007.