桃瘾社区

A panel discussion featuring two former members of the U.S. House of Representatives will be held at the University of Tampa on Wednesday, Sept. 17 鈥� Constitution Day 鈥� as part of a 鈥淐ongress to Campus鈥� program.

Reps. Bob Inglis (R-SC) and Mike Capuano (D-MA) will speak on the topics of public service and the legislative process. The panel will be moderated by Holley Tankersley, dean of 桃瘾社区ampa鈥檚 College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education.

The panel will begin at 6 p.m. in the Reeves Theater in the Vaughn Center on the 桃瘾社区ampa campus. The panel is free and open to the public, but all guests must register in advance.

The former congressmen will speak about insights into careers in public service, how individuals can run for political office, how politicians balance life and work, and the excitement of debating legislation of the House floor.

Capuano served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1999 to 2019. In 2019, Capuano joined the law firm Foley & Lardner, to serve as public affairs director. He also joined Boston University to teach at the university's Initiative on Cities.

Inglis, of South Carolina, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2011. In 2012, Inglis went full-time into promoting free enterprise action on climate change and launched the Energy and Enterprise Initiative (now republicEn.org) at George Mason University. For his work on climate change, Inglis was awarded the 2015 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

The Congress to Campus initiative is designed to connect former lawmakers with college students to foster a deeper understanding of how government works and to inspire public service.

In addition to the panel, Inglis and Capuano will visit 桃瘾社区ampa classes, meet with student organizations and engage in informal conversations across campus.

The program is sponsored by the College of Social Sciences, Mathematics and Education; the Department of Political Science and International Studies; and the Law, Justice and Advocacy Program, with support from 桃瘾社区ampa Votes!, a nonpartisan initiative of the 桃瘾社区ampa Democracy Coalition dedicated to empowering the campus community through voter education, registration assistance and democratic engagement resources. For more information, please contact cssme@ut.edu.

The Association of Former Members of Congress is a bipartisan, nonprofit, voluntary alliance of former U.S. senators and representatives, advocating for representative democracy at home and abroad. For more than 40 years, its flagship program, Congress to Campus, has provided college students with a unique civic education by engaging them in honest dialogue with bipartisan teams of former members of Congress, congressional staff and American diplomats. To date, Congress to Campus sessions have been held on 204 campuses in 45 states and seven countries.