Athens, Ga. – Lee H. Hamilton, the co-chair of the Iraq Study Group and former vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission, will highlight the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs’ annual Getzen Lecture on Government Accountability on Wednesday, April 9, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel.
Hamilton is currently president and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and director of the Center on Congress at Indiana University. Beginning in 1965, he served as a U.S. Congressman from Indiana for 34 years. During his tenure, he served as the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, the Joint Economic Committee and the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress.
Hamilton remains an important and active voice on matters of international relations and American national security. In addition to serving as vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, which issued its report in July 2004, Hamilton was named co-chair of the Iraq Study Group in early 2006. The Iraq Study Group was created at the urging of Congress to provide a forward-looking, bi-partisan assessment of the situation in Iraq.
“Throughout his long career in public service, Lee Hamilton has been a steady voice for bipartisan approaches and sensible solutions to some of our nation’s most vexing problems,” said Dean Thomas P. Lauth of the School of Public and International Affairs. “When Lee Hamilton speaks, his colleagues listen.”
Co-hosted by SPIA and the department of public administration and policy, the Getzen Lecture in Government Accountability is free and open to the public.
SPIA prepares students for careers in public service in Georgia, the nation, and the world, and is fast becoming recognized as a national and international leader in public affairs research and education. The School’s Master of Public Administration Program is one of the nation’s best for public service education and is ranked 4th in the nation among hundreds of public affairs programs (U.S. News & World Report’s 2009 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools).
