Join the Center for Effective Lawmaking for a roundtable discussion touching on questions of race, representation and policymaking in the contemporary Congress. Panelists will explore how those advocating for underrepresented groups have made progress inside and beyond Congress.
The discussion will be in the Student Life Center Commodore Ballroom on March 31 at 6 p.m. CT. The event is free to attend; registration is required.
Hosted by Alan Wiseman, co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, chair of the department of political science and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Economy, panelists include:
- Michael Eric Dyson, Centennial Chair and University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and University Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society. Dyson’s extensive scholarship has spanned a wide range of topics, including race, religion, politics, hip-hop, popular culture and contemporary issues in the African American community. He is a noted author of more than 20 books, including Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America and the 2017 bestseller Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America.
- Michael Minta, professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Minta specializes in congressional politics, interest groups and race and ethnic politics. He regularly teaches courses in U.S. government pertaining to African American politics, congressional politics and interest group advocacy. Minta also is author of the recently published No Longer Outsiders: Black and Latino Interest Group Advocacy on Capitol Hill.
- Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, (D-D.C.). Before attaining public office, Norton was a recognized figure as a civil rights and feminist leader, a tenured professor of law and a board member at three Fortune 500 companies. She has also been recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking as being among the top-10 most effective Democratic lawmakers in the U.S. House for the each Congress in the past 10 years.
The Center for Effective Lawmaking was founded in September 2017 as a joint research enterprise between Vanderbilt University and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. The center seeks to advance the generation, communication and use of knowledge about the effectiveness of individual lawmakers and legislative institutions in the United States.