Athens, Ga. – David Mathews, president and chief executive officer of the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, will deliver the annual Lothar Tresp Lecture at the University of Georgia Wednesday, March 23.
Mathews, who served as U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare under President Gerald Ford, is author of books on education, including a recent book examining public schools in America. The topic of his lecture will be “The New College Experience: Living with Strangers, Fitting in or Making a Difference.”
The 3 p.m. lecture in the University Chapel is open to the public. A reception for Mathews will be held in Moore College following the lecture, which is sponsored by UGA’s Honors Program.
The Kettering Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization that conducts research on how to make Democracy work as it should. As president, Mathews has directed the foundation’s research toward studying the public’s role in the political system.
Prior to joining Ford’s cabinet, Mathews was president of the University of Alabama from 1969 to 1980. He also taught history at Alabama for 15 years.
One of Mathews’ most recent books is Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools? Is There a Public for Public Schools? Another recent book is Politics for People: Finding a Responsible Public Voice.
In addition to books on education and political theory, he has written widely on such topics as southern history, public policy and international problem solving.
Mathews is chairman of the Council on Public Policy Education and serves on the executive committee of Public Agenda. He is also a board member of the Academy for Education Development, the National Civic League and Miles College, and is a trustee of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation.
The Tresp Lecture is named for Lothar Tresp, who was associated with UGA’s Honors Program for 34 years and was director of the program from 1967 until his retirement in 1994.
