DANBURY, Conn. — Western Connecticut State University will celebrate Constitution Day with a public lecture by state Sen. Julie Kushner, D-24th Dist.
Constitution Day is a U.S. federal observance that commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787, and recognizes all who have become citizens either by being born in the U.S. or by naturalization. The talk, at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019, in Room 127 of White Hall on the Midtown campus, 181 Main St., Danbury, will be free and the public is invited.
“We want educators and students — and the whole community — to take time every year to discuss what the U.S. Constitution means to all of us,” said Dr. Michelle Brown, the WCSU dean of the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences. “The document is alive and applies to every citizen. We owe it to ourselves to understand the authority and responsibilities we have as Americans. Sen. Kushner will provide our audience with ideas about how to get involved in government, or at least how to stay aware of how our representative government functions.”
Kushner, representing the municipalities of Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman, and a portion of Bethel, is serving her first term as a state senator. She was named to Senate leadership as deputy president pro tempore, and serves as Senate chair of the Labor & Public Employees Committee, vice-chair of the Environment Committee, and a member of the Appropriations, Education, Executive & Legislative Nominations, and Housing committees.
Kushner said her experience as a secretary when she was a college student educated her on gender inequality in the workplace, and introduced her to a life of advocacy, organizing workers and building coalitions to achieve pay increases, improve health care, and secure childcare benefits for working Americans.
She has served as director of Region 9A of the United Auto Workers, which covers New England, a portion of New York and Puerto Rico. She has also been co-chair of the Connecticut Working Families Party, and she served as a delegate or alternate delegate to every Democratic National Convention since 1996. She is a member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, a member of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement and a lifetime member of the NAACP.
Kushner moved to Danbury from New York City in 1993 with her husband Larry and her three children.
For more information, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.
Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals, and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.