Fifth-term U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn. ’66 & ’83Hon., a senior Democratic leader in the Senate, will visit the College to speak about the war in Iraq on Thursday, October 12, at 3:45 p.m. in the Ryan Family Concert Hall of the Smith Center for the Arts.

Dodd’s speech is open to all members of the College community, including alumni. He is expected to meet with faculty and students in the Department of Political Science for a question-and-answer session prior to his formal presentation.

Known for his commitment to public service and human rights, Dodd is Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator. He has served as a member of Congress for the last 32 years, including three terms in the House of Representatives from 1974-80. His father, the late U.S. Sen. Thomas J. Dodd ’30, was one of the lead prosecutors during the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal before being elected to the U.S. Senate.

Dodd graduated from PC in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in English. He earned his law degree from the University of Louisville School of Law. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during the College’s 65th Commencement Exercises in 1983.

A senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in the Dominican Republic, Dodd is a recognized expert on Latin and South America and has worked to foster peace, prosperity, and democracy abroad. He also sits on three other Senate committees. He is a senior member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; current ranking member on the Rules and Administration Committee; and a member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, where he will become its top Democrat when the 110th Congress convenes next year.

Dodd has achieved a reputation as a lawmaker devoted to making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. He fought for nearly a decade to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act and authored the first federal law to help cities and towns hire, equip, and train firefighters and other emergency responders. He also co-authored the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley law, which strengthened accounting and managerial practices for the benefit of companies and workers who invest in those companies.

Dodd also has been a champion of such causes as affordable child care, reformation of campaign finance laws, and adequate patient care protection.