{"id":74337,"date":"2025-03-19T13:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T20:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=74337"},"modified":"2025-03-19T13:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T20:37:12","slug":"congress-to-campus-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/congress-to-campus-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Former members of Congress to visit NAU for town hall\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, March 25, the NAU, Flagstaff and surrounding communities will have a rare chance to interact with lawmakers who played major roles in shaping federal policy.<\/span>\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Two former members of Congress\u2014Sam Coppersmith, a Democrat who represented Arizona\u2019s 1st congressional district from 1993 to 1995, and John Shimkus, a Republican who served the 15th, 19th, and 20<\/span>th<\/span> congressional districts of Illinois from 1997 to 2021\u2014will come to NAU for a town hall-style Q&A session emceed by former Flagstaff mayor Coral Evans.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>town hall<\/span><\/a> will take place from\u202f<\/span>6-7<\/span> p.m. in the Du Bois Ballroom and is free and open to the public.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

NAU\u2019s Cline Library, Department of Politics & International Affairs and Pi Sigma Alpha, a national political science honor society, have teamed up to present the event in partnership with the non-profit organization Former Members of Congress (FMC), with sponsorship from the Arizona State Legislature and the Arizona Board of Regents<\/span><\/p>\n

FMC\u2019s\u202f<\/span>Congress to Campus<\/span><\/a>\u202fprogram provides college students with a unique civic education by engaging them in honest dialogue with bipartisan teams of former members of Congress, congressional staff and American diplomats. The conversations often bring contemporary social issues to the forefront and showcase the benefits of healthy partisanship and civil disagreement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pi Sigma Alpha President Micah Ostunio, who is helping to organize this event for the second year in a row, hopes students from all over campus will come learn how their government works. \u201cThey have a responsibility to participate in our democracy,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great opportunity for students to learn about how to get involved in public service, which<\/span>\u202f<\/span>is vital to a functioning representative democracy,\u201d said Marija Bekafigo, associate chair of the Department of Politics & International Affairs. \u201cIn fact, it is so vital that these former members of Congress are volunteering their time to talk about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bekafigo said the town hall is just one of many campus events involving the former congressional representatives over their three-day visit. Coppersmith and Shimkus will also pay visits to multiple classrooms, where young people studying subjects such as American foreign policy, crime and justice, Middle East politics and public relations will have the opportunity to ask them questions about their political careers and their thoughts on current events. The former lawmakers will also meet with NAU students and faculty leaders over local meals during their visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

About John Shimkus<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

John M. Shimkus<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/b>has served in the Army, as a high school teacher, as a county treasurer and as a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 15th District of Illinois. He served as a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Republican Leader of the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee and a member of its Energy, Health, and Communications and Technology Subcommittees. John worked with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to advance policies to enhance energy security and public safety. Several of his legislative initiatives were signed into law by Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

About Sam Coppersmith<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sam Coppersmith\u202fhas extensive political and governmental experience. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Arizona\u2019s 1<\/span>st<\/span>\u202fDistrict, he served on the Transportation and Science Committees. He has also served as chair of the Arizona Democratic Party and was a member of the Democratic National Committee. He has shared his knowledge through his engagement on numerous state and local boards and commissions and has four decades of experience assisting both local and national businesses and nonprofits as well as individuals. Coppersmith served as managing partner of Coopersmith\/Brockelman Lawyers, from its founding until 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, March 25, the NAU, Flagstaff and surrounding communities will have a rare chance to interact with lawmakers who played major roles in shaping federal policy.\u202f\u00a0 Two former members of Congress\u2014Sam Coppersmith, a Democrat who represented Arizona\u2019s 1st congressional district from 1993 to 1995, and John Shimkus, a Republican who served the 15th, 19th,…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-happenings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}