Chairman of National Endowment for the Humanities to Speak at Ashland University

Jim Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, will speak at Ashland University on Feb. 22. Leach will address “Civility in a Fractured Society” as part of the spring 2010 Major Issues Lecture Series presented by the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University.

Tickets for the noon luncheon, to be held in the John C. Myers Convocation Center, are $20 each. Tables of eight are $160. Those wishing to order tickets can do so by making checks payable to the Ashbrook Center and mail the order to: Ashbrook Center, Ashland University, 401 College Ave., Ashland, Ohio 44805. For more information, contact Linsey Bruce at 419-289-5435 or lbruce@ashbrook.org.

Jim Leach is the ninth chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Nominated by President Barack Obama on July 9, 2009, and confirmed by the Senate in early August, Leach began his four-year term as NEH Chairman on Aug. 12, 2009.

Leach previously served 30 years representing southeastern Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the Banking and Financial Services Committee, the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and founded and co-chaired the Congressional Humanities Caucus.

After leaving Congress in 2007, Leach joined the faculty at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, where he was the John L. Weinberg Visiting Professor of Public and International Affairs until his confirmation as NEH Chairman.

In September 2007, Leach took a year’s leave of absence from Princeton to serve as interim director of the Institute of Politics and lecturer at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Leach graduated from Princeton University, received a master of arts degree in Soviet politics from the School of Advanced International Studies at The John Hopkins University, and did additional graduate studies at the London School of Economics.

Leach holds eight honorary degrees and has received numerous awards, including the Sidney R. Yates Award for Distinguished Public Service to the Humanities from the National Humanities Alliance; the Woodrow Wilson Award from The Johns Hopkins University; the Adlai Stevenson Award from the United Nations Association; the Edgar Wayburn Award from the Sierra Club; the Wayne Morse Integrity in Politics Award; the Norman Borlaug Award for Public Service; and the Wesley Award for Service to Humanity.

A three-sport athlete in college, Leach was elected to the Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla., and the International Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, Iowa. Leach resides in Iowa City and the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Elisabeth (Deba); son, Gallagher; and daughter, Jenny.

The Ashbrook Center, located on the campus of Ashland University, teaches the meaning and significance of America through educational programs for students, teachers and citizens. Ashland University is a mid-sized, private institution conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.