Former U.S. President Bill Clinton to visit Brandeis Dec 3; Watch a live webcast of his inaugural lecture of the Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program at 2 p.m.

Released on October 16, 2007
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Visit the Clinton Lecture Web site for information about attending the event.

WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 15, 2007 -- Former U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton will visit the Brandeis University campus on Monday Dec. 3 to deliver the first lecture for the school’s new Eli J. Segal Citizen Leadership Program, Brandeis officials said today.

Segal (Brandeis Class of ’64), a close friend and personal advisor to Clinton, was the CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Brandeis established the leadership program in recognition of his tireless commitment to public service and determination to help others succeed.

Clinton’s inaugural lecture for the leadership program, expected to focus on community engagement, will be held at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center beginning at approximately 2 p.m. Because of space, parking and other logistical limitations, the talk is open to members of the Brandeis University community only, including undergraduate and graduate students, staff and faculty members.

The university’s president, Jehuda Reinharz, said the leadership program will be located in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management on the Brandeis campus and represents an ongoing salute to Segal’s creativity and effectiveness in public service. Reinharz characterized Segal as a “passionate public servant and visionary activist who was a model for Brandeis students and young people everywhere.”

Initiated in part by Mrs. Phyllis (Nichamoff) Segal (Brandeis Class of ’66), the leadership program will provide undergraduate and graduate fellowships for summer internships in participating organizations. Interns and volunteer sites will be selected by a group of mentors drawn from the late Eli Segal’s friends, family and colleagues.

“His genius for making things happen led to a lifetime of giving back – at the local, community and national levels,” said Reinharz. “Both AmeriCorps and the Welfare to Work Programs were created by Eli to give strength and independence to some of the more vulnerable members of American society – the poor and the young.

Segal was a practical prophet,” Reinharz added. “He knew that a strong democratic society depends on support for volunteerism, good citizenship and citizen leadership.”

It is a tribute to the memory of Eli Segal and to the importance of this project that the 42nd President of the United States has volunteered to deliver the first lecture in the Eli Segal Citizen Leadership Program’s annual series, Reinharz said.