Former Secretary of Labor and NPR Marketplace Commentator Robert B. Reich to Speak at Oberlin March 19

OBERLIN, OHIO — Former secretary of labor Robert B. Reich, a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, will give Oberlin College's sixth and final Convocation talk of the year at 8 p.m., Wednesday, March 19, in Oberlin's Finney Chapel, located on the corner of West Lorain and North Professor streets.

The free public series is presented under the auspices of the Finney Lecture Committee and the Office of the President.

Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He is the author of 11 books, including the bestsellers The Future of Success, Locked in the Cabinet , and The Work of Nations , which has been translated into 22 languages; and Supercapitalism , which was published last year. Reich is co-founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and his commentaries can be heard weekly on National Public Radio's Marketplace .

In 2003, Reich was awarded the prestigious Vaclav Havel Foundation Prize by the former Czech president for his pioneering work in economic and social thought. In 2002, Reich ran for the democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts.

As the nation's 22nd secretary of labor, Reich implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act, led a national fight against sweatshops in the U.S. and illegal child labor around the world, headed the administration's successful effort to raise the minimum wage, secured worker's pensions, and launched job-training programs, one-stop career centers, and school-to-work initiatives.

He has been a professor at Brandeis University and a member of the faculty of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He earned his BA from Dartmouth College, his MA from Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and his JD from Yale Law School.

Media Contact:
Scott.Wargo@Oberlin.edu
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