Tweet It: Former Congressman and @AspenInstitute Mickey Edwards joins @ConstitutionCtr @PennLaw as visiting scholar. bit.ly/WggCOI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: Lauren Saul Rebecca Anderson Public Relations Manager Assoc. Director of Communications National Constitution Center Penn Law 215.409.6895 215.898.9216 [email protected] [email protected]
NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER AND PENN LAW WELCOME FORMER CONGRESSMAN MICKEY EDWARDS AS VISITING SCHOLAR
PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 4, 2012) – The National Constitution Center and University of Pennsylvania Law School have appointed former Congressman, author, lecturer, and Vice President of the Aspen Institute Mickey Edwards as a visiting scholar for 2013. The National Constitution Center-Penn Law visiting scholar program is designed to foster public discourse on constitutional issues by engaging leading academics, students, practitioners, and the public in programs at the Center and at Penn’s Law School. As part of Edwards’s yearlong appointment, he will provide insights on political parties and the U.S. Constitution through public programs, discussion groups, original writings and a featured column on the Center’s award winning blog Constitution Daily. Edwards also will advise on subjects and speakers for the Center’s critically acclaimed evening program series, as well as lead programs at the Center and Penn Law on hot button political issues in 2013.
Edwards also serves as Director of the Aspen Institute’s Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership, a 24-month program that identifies and convenes America’s emerging elected officials with reputations for intellect, thoughtfulness, and a commitment to civil dialogue. Edwards was a Republican member of Congress for 16 years, serving as a member of the House Republican Leadership and as a member of the Appropriations and Budget -MORE-
ADD ONE/MICKEY EDWARDS
Committees. His latest book, The Parties Versus the People, has just been published by Yale University Press.
“We are honored to have Congressman Edwards affiliated with the National Constitution Center as a visiting scholar and spokesperson,” said Vice President of External Affairs Alison Young. “His experience as a Washington insider and intriguing research will bring a fresh perspective to the Center’s conversations on the Constitution’s contemporary relevance.”
“I’m delighted to have a chance to work with the National Constitution Center and Penn Law,” said Edwards. “The Constitution is the guarantor of our freedoms and lays out a system of self- governance that set much of the modern world on an entirely new path, in which the people themselves were in charge of determining their future. The mission of Center is nothing less than ensuring that the constitutional framework is preserved for future generations – and I’m especially pleased to be working with law students who will deal with these issues throughout their careers. I am incredibly proud to have been selected to help with that important mission and to be closely associated with such prestigious and invaluable institutions.”
“Mickey’s breadth of experience in Congress, think tanks, and in academia will add to the vitality of the Law School community,” said Michael A. Fitts, Dean of Penn Law. “We look forward to his engagement with our faculty and students.”
Edwards is a member of the Board of Directors of The Constitution Project, has co-chaired task forces on judicial independence and the war power, and served on the American Bar Association Task Force on Presidential Signing Statements and the American Society of International Law Task Force on the International Criminal Court. After leaving the Congress, he taught for 11 years at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and for five years as a lecturer at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He also has been a visiting professor at the University of Maryland Law School and at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute and a visiting lecturer at Harvard Law School. -MORE-
ADD TWO/MICKEY EDWARDS
Previous National Constitution Center-Penn Law visiting scholars have included Akhil Reed Amar, Sarah Gordon, A.E. Dick Howard, Douglas Kmiec, Theodore Olson, Jeffrey Rosen, Richard Allen, and Kathleen Sullivan.
About Penn Law James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, framer of the Constitution and member of the first U.S. Supreme Court, in 1790 delivered the University of Pennsylvania's first lectures in law to President George Washington and all the members of his Cabinet. Penn began offering a full-time program in law in 1850, under the leadership of George Sharswood, an innovator in legal education. Since that time, Penn Law has been at the forefront of cross- disciplinary legal education in the U.S. and across the globe. For more information, please visit www.law.upenn.edu or www.facebook.com/pennlaw.
About the National Constitution Center The National Constitution Center is the first and only nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to the most powerful vision of freedom ever expressed: the U.S. Constitution. Located on Independence Mall in Historic Philadelphia, the birthplace of American freedom, the Center illuminates constitutional ideals and inspires active citizenship through a state-of-the-art museum experience, including hundreds of interactive exhibits, films and rare artifacts; must- see feature exhibitions; the internationally acclaimed, 360-degree theatrical production Freedom Rising; and the iconic Signers' Hall, where visitors can sign the Constitution alongside 42 life- size, bronze statues of the Founding Fathers. As America's forum for constitutional dialogue, the Center engages diverse, distinguished leaders of government, public policy, journalism and scholarship in timely public discussions and debates. The Center also houses the Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach, the national hub for constitutional education, which offers cutting-edge civic learning resources both onsite and online. Freedom is calling. Answer it at the National Constitution Center. For more information, call 215.409.6700 or visit www.constitutioncenter.org.
###