Former N.J. Governor to Visit VCU

By Tom Gresham

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering and the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs will host Christine Todd Whitman, former New Jersey governor, for a question-and-answer session with students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

The event takes place in the School of Engineering, Ethyl Auditorium, 601 W. Main St., from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Whitman, a highly respected leader and adviser on environmental issues, served as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003. Before that, she served for seven years as governor of New Jersey, the first woman elected to that position. As governor, she earned praise from both Republicans and Democrats for her commitment to preserve a record amount of New Jersey land as permanent green space. As EPA administrator, she promoted common-sense environmental improvements such as watershed-based water protection policies.

She now serves as co-chair of the CASEnergy Coalition, a national grassroots coalition of more than 2,700 members that unites unlikely allies across the business, environmental, academic, consumer and labor community to support nuclear energy.