Dec. 6 Pitt American Experience Lecture to Feature Scholar Robert D. Reischauer Discussing Budget Reductions Impasse and the Nation’s Need to Adapt to Inevitable Economic Changes

PITTSBURGH—Robert D. Reischauer, economist and president of the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., will be the featured speaker for the upcoming address of the University of Pittsburgh American Experience Distinguished Lecture Series at 4 p.m. Dec. 6 in the O’Hara Student Center, formerly the Concordia Club, 4024 O’Hara St., Oakland. The lecture is sponsored by the Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy and the University Honors College.

The lecture is titled “This Time Really Will Be Different: Adapting to Fiscal Reality.” Summarizing the talk, Reischauer notes that regardless of the measures crafted to reduce the U.S. deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next decade, the nation will have to accept far more significant changes if it is to adapt successfully to the fiscal and economic realities we will face. Expectations about future living standards and public sector services based on the experience of the past few decades will have to be curbed, and the political consequences of these adjustments are likely to be profound.

The lecture will be followed by an audience discussion moderated by Pitt alumnus and trustee Dick Thornburgh (LAW ’57). Thornburgh is a former governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and attorney general of the United States, U.N. undersecretary general, and is now counsel to the international law firm K&L Gates in its Washington, D.C., office. 

The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Those interested in attending must RSVP with name, e-mail address, and number of attendees by visiting the American Experience Web site at http://ae.honorscollege.pitt.edu. For more information on the lecture series, call 412-624-1514. 

Reischauer has served as president of the Urban Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan governmental policy research and education organization, since 2000. He has held two senior fellowships in the economics studies program of the Brookings Institute, from 1986 to 1989 and again from 1995 to 2000. Reischauer also served as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1989 to 1995 and was the senior vice president of the Urban Institute from 1981 to 1986. 

As an economist, Reischauer has lectured extensively on such issues as healthcare reform, federal budgetary policies, and entitlement programs. His commentary on such topics has been featured in numerous news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and PBS’ Newshour. 

Reischauer earned an AB degree at Harvard University as well as MIA and PhD degrees at Columbia University. He is the coauthor and/or coeditor of the following: Medicare: Preparing for the Challenges of the 21st Century (Brookings Institute Press, 1998); Countdown to Reform: The Great Social Security Debate (Twentieth Century Fund, 1998); and Setting National Priorities: Budge Choices for the Next Century (Brookings Institute Press, 1996). 

Reischauer serves on the board of directors for numerous educational and nonprofit organizations, including the Academy of Health, Academy of Political Science, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He also is the senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation and is one of two public trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds. 

Late Pitt faculty member Robert G. Hazo created the American Experience program 40 years ago to offer Pittsburgh’s mid-to-high-level managers the opportunity to gain insight into political and economic thought with the intent of enlightening the public’s political discourse. The program’s current director is Edward L. McCord, director of programming and special projects in Pitt’s Honors College and director of the Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy. The series focuses on political and economic issues and has featured addresses by such internationally renowned speakers as Pat Buchanan, Paul R. Ehrlich, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Bruce Babbitt, and the late John Kenneth Galbraith. 

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11/21/11/mab/lks