Veteran public servant and human rights expert Eric Schwartz will deliver Carleton College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, Jan. 27 at 10:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Entitled “Governance is the Solution: 21st Century Challenges and the Public Service Mission,” Schwartz’s presentation is free and open to the public.
Schwartz believes that while Americans may legitimately differ on the best role for government, effective public institutions will none-the-less be critical for social and economic advancement in the years and decades to come.
Schwartz has 25 years of senior experience at the Department of State, the National Security Council, the United Nations, and the U.S. Congress. He has served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration; as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery; and at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was the lead expert for the Congressionally-mandated Mitchell-Gingrich Task Force on United Nations Reform. As Senior Director and Special Assistant to the President for Multilateral and Humanitarian Affairs at the National Security Council, Schwartz played a central role in managing Administration responses on a variety of peacekeeping, humanitarian, and refugee issues.
In addition to his extensive experience as a policy practitioner, Schwartz has also held numerous prestigious academic positions focusing on international humanitarian affairs, human rights, international organizations, and peacekeeping. He has held fellowships at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Schwartz is currently the Dean of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
This event is sponsored by the Carleton College Office of College Relations. For more information, including disability accommodations, contact kraadt@carleton.edu or call (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street, between College and Winona Streets, in Northfield.
