College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Smith Chair

Former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder will speak on campus
Patricia Schroeder, former congresswoman from Colorado for 24 years until her retirement from public office in 1996 and former Democratic presidential candidate in 1988 and 1992, will be the 2003 Mary Louise Smith Chair in Women and Politics at Iowa State. Schroeder will be on campus Tuesday, April 22.

On April 22, Schroeder will interact with Iowa State students at the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, and give a guest lecture to the science communication class taught by Barbara Mack, associate professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

Schroeder will present a lecture on "The Road to the White House: Where are the Women?," 7:30 p.m., April 22, Benton Auditorium, Scheman Building. The event is free and open to the public. A book signing, “24 Years of House Work...and the Place is Still A Mess,” will follow the lecture.

Schroeder currently is president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Publishers, a national trade organization of the U.S. book publishing industry. She has been a professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and she co-chairs the Democracy Online Project's national task force.

During her 12 terms in the United States House of Representatives (1972-96), she co-chaired the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues for 10 years and was the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee. As chair of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families from 1991-1993, she was instrumental in the Family and Medical Leave Act and the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act becoming enacted.

The Smith Chair is sponsored by Iowa State’s Catt Center for Women and Politics. It was created in 1995 to honor Smith, an Iowa native and longtime political and civic leader. Smith was the first and only woman to chair the Republican National Party. The honor brings nationally renowned political leaders, scholars and activists to Iowa State.