UH Manoa Public Policy Center set to begin Distinguished Leader Dialogue Series

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris scheduled as inaugural speaker

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris will be the inaugural speaker at a Distinguished Leader Dialogue Series sponsored by the new UH Manoa Public Policy Center.

Mayor Harris will address the topic Building Sustainable Cities as the center initiates the dialogue series on the theme Earth — A Planet in Peril. A welcome reception is scheduled at 4:30 p.m., with the dialogue scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m., on Tuesday, February 3, at the UH School of Architecture auditorium.

The Mayor‘s presentation will be followed by a moderated open discussion with Nancy Lewis, director of the research program at the East-West Center, and Stephen Meder, professor in the School of Architecture.

During his nine years as Mayor —and in the previous eight years as Honolulu‘s managing director — Harris has guided the city through one of the most challenging periods in its history. Issues of the environment and sustainability have been constant themes in his major policy statements. Harris earned his undergraduate degree in biology at UH Manoa, and received a master‘s degree in population and environmental biology at the University of California at Irvine.

The UH Manoa Public Policy Center — within the College of Social Sciences — aims to enhance the quality of community life throughout the state, the country and the Asia Pacific region by educating professionals for careers in public life, conducting non-partisan research and promoting civic engagement on issues of local, national and international significance.

Co-sponsors of the Distinguished Leader Dialogue Series are the UH Globalization Research Center, the UH Office of Sustainability, the UH Manoa Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and the National Issues Forums.

Additional information is available by contacting Dolores Foley at 956-2780 or dolores@hawaii.edu.