Former U.S. Secretary of Labor To Discuss Rising Economic Power of China and India at NC State’s Millennium Seminar Series

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich will speak at North Carolina State University’s Millennium Seminar Series with a presentation to students, faculty, staff and the public at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 31, in Stewart Theater on campus. His remarks will focus on the rising economic powers of China and India and what effect they have on the United States.

Reich is a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.

As the nation’s 22nd secretary of labor, Reich implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act, led a national fight against U.S. sweatshops and illegal child labor around the world, headed the administration’s successful effort to raise the minimum wage, secured workers’ pensions, and launched job-training programs, one-stop career centers, and school-to-work initiatives. A 1996 poll of cabinet experts conducted by the Hearst newspapers rated him the most effective cabinet secretary during the Clinton administration.

In 2003, Reich was awarded the prestigious Vaclev Havel Foundation Prize for his pioneering work in economic and social thought. In 2005, his play, Public Exposure, broke box office records at its world premiere on Cape Cod. He has written 11 books, including his most recent, Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life.

Mary P. Easley, first lady of North Carolina and a senior lecturer at NC State, coordinates the Millennium Seminars series. The series provides opportunities for students to interact with world leaders from diverse backgrounds. Presentations address world issues from the speaker’s perspective, placing local and national events in a global context. The seminars are designed to engage, encourage and inspire students to reach beyond borders and think more globally about what they have learned, and what their role will be as they move into the workforce.

The Reich seminar is co-sponsored by the Harrelson Committee, Phi Kappa Phi, and the Park Scholarships Program. For more information, visit the Web at www.ncsu.edu/millenniumseminars.

Note to media: A satellite pool feed of the seminar will be available through UNC-TV. Satellite coordinates will be provided in a media advisory to be distributed a few days prior to the seminar.