KINGSTON, R.I. -- September 15, 2003 -- Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, will talk about globalization’s effects on Americans’ jobs, incomes, and politics Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. as part of the University of Rhode Island Honors Colloquium.

Author of nine books, including The Future of Success, The Work of Nations, and founder of the political magazine, The American Prospect, Reich is the Maurice B. Hexter Professor of Social and Economic Policy at Brandeis University. His talk, "The Global Economy and the Jobs of the Future," will be held in Room 271 of URI’s Chafee Social Science Center, Kingston Campus. Reich’s lecture and all programs in the "Futures of Globalization" Colloquium are free and open to the public.

Reich will examine the division between the "have-mores" who are well equipped to benefit from globalization and the "have-lesses" who aren't. Although the overall benefits of globalization are much greater than the disadvantages, the "have-lesses" bear almost all the burdens and gain few of the benefits, according to Reich. What can America or any other society do to widen the circle of prosperity? Reich will address this and related questions.

As U.S. labor secretary during Clinton's first term, Reich was part of an administration that presided over the longest economic expansion in history that created more than 22 million jobs nationwide.

Reich transformed the labor department, reducing its size by 12 percent. He led initiatives such as :

* Implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act
* Fighting against sweatshops in the United States and illegal child labor around the world
* Increasing the minimum wage for the first time since 1989
* Protecting workers' pensions by ensuring that companies fully funded their pension plans
* Launching job training programs, one-stop career centers, and school-to-work initiatives, all of which helped Americans earn higher incomes

Reich’s leadership earned the Department of Labor more than 30 awards for innovation and government reinvention.

Reich headed President Clinton's economic transition team. Before that, he served as a faculty member at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. During the Carter Administration, Reich directed the Policy Planning Staff of the Federal Trade Commission. He also served as an assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, representing the United States before the Supreme Court, during the Ford Administration.

Reich resigned as labor secretary in 1997 and returned to Massachusetts to spend more time with his family.

He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1968, earned a master of arts degree as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and a law degree from Yale Law School in 1973.

Please visit www.uri.edu/hc for the most current colloquium information and a complete schedule of events and directions, or contact the URI Honors Center at 401-874-2381 or debg@uri.edu.

The colloquium’s major sponsors are: URI ‘s Honors Program and President’s Office, The Providence Journal, Fidelity Investments, URI Foundation, URI College of Arts and Sciences and the URI College of Business Administration.

Other sponsors are URI’s Office of Student Affairs, Alumni Association, Multicultural Center and College of Pharmacy.