As part of its annual Congress Week celebration, the Richard B. Russell Library will be hosting former U.S. Senator Doug Jones for a discussion moderated by Joe Watson, the University of Georgia's inaugural Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professor of Public Affairs Communications. The event will take place on Tuesday, April 15th at 5:30pm. A light reception will follow.
Parking can be found in the Hull Street Deck directly across from the Special Collections Libraries building.
This event is co-sponsored by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications and the School of Public and International Affairs.
Congress Week is an annual program sponsored by the Associations of Centers for the Study of Congress (ACSC). The Russell Library is a founding member of ACSC. This event sponsored by the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and the School of Public and International Affairs.
The content and opinions expressed during University of Georgia Libraries events do not necessarily reflect the views of nor are they endorsed by the University of Georgia or the University System of Georgia.
About the speakers:
Doug Jones served as a U.S. Senator for the state of Alabama from 2018-2021 after winning a special election in 2017. During his time in the chamber, he built a reputation as an effective legislator and communicator, and a member that championed bipartisanship- he passed more than two dozen bipartisan bills into law in his three years. Jones also served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northen District of Alabama from 1997-2001. In this position, he successfully prosecuted two of the men who were responsible for the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, which killed four young girls. In 2022, he served as President Joe Biden's Nomination Advisor for Legislative Affairs, where he assisted with the selection, nomination, and confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, Doug Jones is a is of counsel with ArentFox Schiff, a Senior Distinguish Fellow with the Center for American Progress, and a CNN political commentator.
Joe Watson Jr. brings 20+ years of experience in public affairs, campaigns, and communications to the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where he serves as the inaugural Carolyn Caudell Tieger Professor of Public Affairs Communications. He oversees the first program in the nation that provides students with practice and training in the strategy of public affairs communications focused on policy and politics. Watson led President Georgia W. Bush's National Telecommunication and Information Administration's Domestic Policy Office, and as the Legislative Director and Counsel to former Illinois U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald. He established the public affairs communication group Exelon Corporation, which is a Fortune 100 company.