LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former longtime U.S. Rep. Romano Mazzoli, noted for his landmark work on immigration issues, will discuss politics March 11 at the University of Louisville.
Mazzoli’s free, public talk, “Politics a la Carte: A Survey of Issues Local, National and International,” will begin at 1 p.m. in the University Club Ballroom on the Belknap Campus, with a reception afterward sponsored by the Office of the President. The event is free but reservations are recommended at uofl.me/as-PBK2015
His speech is the 2014-15 Phi Beta Kappa lecture; sponsors are UofL’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Phi Beta Kappa Association of Kentuckiana, an honor society that fosters academic excellence and promotes education in the liberal arts and sciences.
The Louisville native and 1960 graduate of UofL’s law school served 24 years as the state’s 3rd District representative in Congress until his 1995 retirement. The Democrat served on the House Judiciary Committee, for which he chaired the Immigration, International Law and Refugees Subcommittee; he and Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming wrote the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (Simpson-Mazzoli immigration act), which was enacted into law.
Mazzoli also served Congress on the House Education, Labor, Small Business and Intelligence committees. Before his congressional service, he served as a Kentucky state senator from 1968 to 1970 and in active Army duty from 1954 to 1956.
Besides his UofL law degree, he earned an undergraduate degree from University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
He also has served on the UofL Board of Overseers and as a visiting UofL professor and distinguished fellow in law and public policy. His papers were donated in 2011 to the UofL Libraries’ Archives, where the collection includes items from his political career and personal life.
For more information, contact Tracy Heightchew at 502-852-8977 or tracy.heightchew@louisville.edu.