The Changing World of Politics
The political divide in today's America can sometimes feel like an unbridgeable chasm. Listen to political insiders discuss today's political landscape, where we're headed, and what to watch for as we head into a heated presidential election.
Saturday, May 19, 2012; 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Jonas Clark Hall, Room 104
Moderator
Mark Miller
Acting Chair and Professor of Political Science, Director of Law and Society Program, Clark University
Mark Miller has been at Clark since 1990, where he teaches courses in American government, politics of law and the judiciary, Congressional politics, lawyers and politics. During his tenure he has been named Teacher of the Year and Advisor of the Year. His current research interests include the interactions between Congress and the courts; constitutional law issues involving the powers of Congress; and comparisons of judicial politics in North America and Western Europe. He is currently working on his fifth book.
Miller served as the Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States from 1999-2000, and as a Congressional Fellow in 1995. During 2006-07, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Centennial Center for Public Policy of the American Political Science Association. During the spring of 2008, he was the Thomas Jefferson Distinguished Chair, a Fulbright scholar to the American Studies Program and the History Department at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Miller received a Ph.D. from the Ohio State University and his J.D. from George Washington University.
Panelists include:
Lauren Beth Gash '82
Attorney, political advisor
Hon. Lauren Beth Gash is an attorney who has served four terms in the Illinois House of Representatives. While there she chaired the Judiciary Committee and worked with then-State Senator Barack Obama on several pieces of legislation. In 2008, Gash was a member of the Electoral College on behalf of the President, and in 2012 was elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Previously, Lauren had worked in Washington, D.C. and served on the staffs of U.S. Senators Alan Dixon and Paul Simon.
Gash is a life-long community organizer who has served on numerous not-for-profit boards, including the League of Women Voters, PTA, and the Anti-Defamation League. She is a former volunteer attorney at Prairie State Legal Services.
Most recently, Lauren founded and is the Chair of the Tenth Congressional District Democrats (Tenth Dems), a grassroots organization dedicated to building a strong Democratic infrastructure in Chicago's northern and northwestern suburbs. The group's Tenth Dems University regularly hosts nationally recognized leaders, and its new office, the Community Connection, helps local residents, believing that "Politics should be about more than just elections—it should be about working together to build stronger communities."
Gash earned her law degree in 1987 at Georgetown University Law Center where she served as associate editor of the American Criminal Law Review. At Clark she majored in psychology.
Gash lives in Highland Park, Illinois and is married to Gregg Garmisa. They have two adult children, Sarah, 28, who manages the digital media labs at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and Ben, 26, a press secretary to Senator Dick Durbin in Washington, D.C.
Matthew Greenwald '87
Senior Director, Federal Relations, University of Chicago
Matthew Greenwald has over 20 years of public policy and government relations experience. In June 2009, he was appointed Deputy Director of Federal Relations for the University of Chicago. In this role, his primary focus is to help lead the University's efforts to engage federal policymakers on policy and funding issues impacting university-based science research, and the University's role in the management of Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Since the beginning of 2012, Greenwald has been serving as director of the Washington office, with his responsibilities expanded to include broader higher education and academic medical center policy and funding issues.
Prior to his current position, Greenwald was Washington Metro's lead government-relations liaison for homeland security. He began his career in Washington working on Capitol Hill from 1990-1997 as a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, rising to a senior analyst position. Following his experience on Capitol Hill, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Senate Liaison at the Department of Energy through the completion of the Clinton Administration.
Greenwald has a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University and a B.A. in economics from Clark University where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He is the author of "The Secrets of Smart Running," now in its 4th edition.
Ethan Zorfas '07, M.P.A. '08
Chief of Staff, Congressman Frank Guinta
Ethan Zorfas has been serving as Chief of Staff for newly elected Congressman Frank Guinta (R, NH-1) since 2010. He is currently the youngest serving chief of staff in the 112th Congress.
Zorfas became involved in politics during his time at Clark. After working on various campaigns throughout the region and at the National Republican Congressional Committee, he started a campaign-consulting business in 2009. His clients included members of Congress, a state treasurer and other various candidates.