Two nationally known environmental leaders—Phil Sharp, president of Resources for the Future, and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman, co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition—will visit UT next week.
Both visits will be hosted by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy.
Sharp will deliver the Baker Center’s Distinguished Lecture on Energy and the Environment at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28, in the Toyota Auditorium of the Baker Center. The title of his talk is “Grappling with Climate Policy.”
Whitman will host a CASEnergy Coalition seminar at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, at the Baker Center. The title of the seminar is “A Conversation about Climate Change and the Value of Nuclear Energy.”
Both events are free and open to the public.
Sharp is a former political science professor at Ball State University, ten-term Congressman from Indiana, former director of the Harvard Institute of Politics, and a respected figure in the energy and environmental policy arena.
He joined Resources for the Future (RFF) in 2005 as president. RFF is an independent, nonpartisan organization that conducts economic research and analysis to improve environmental and natural resource policy.
Sharp has been a longtime leader in energy legislation and was instrumental in the development of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and the adoption of fuel economy standards in 1975.
Whitman was the fiftieth governor of New Jersey—and its first female governor—from 1994 to 2001. She served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003.
Since 2006, she’s been co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a national grassroots industry-funded coalition of more than 3,900 members from business, environmental, academia, industry, consumer organizations, minority groups, and labor communities who support nuclear expansion. Her co-leader is Ambassador Ron Kirk.
Parking for both events is in Vol Hall Garage at 1545 White Avenue at $2 per hour.
The Baker Center is a nonpartisan institute devoted to education and research concerning public policy and civic engagement.
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MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Sharp will be available to talk to the media from 2:30 to 2:45 p.m. in the Rotunda Reading Room of the Baker Center.
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CONTACT:
Nissa Dahlin-Brown (865-974-8681, nissa@utk.edu)
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)