Wednesday, June 22, 2016

SPS 2016: The Speaker Series Continues

The St. Albans School of Public Service Speaker Series continued today, as we were lucky enough to hear from two engaging and inspirational speakers in one today.  In the morning, SPS heard from leading appellate attorney Jeff Wall, who spoke about his past work as a Department of Justice attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General and his current work as an appellate lawyer with a practice that includes arguments in front of the United States Supreme Court.  Mr. Wall's visit was particularly timely, as the SPS students will be taking part in the mock Supreme Court argument later this week of an actual pending Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of Texas.  Mr. Wall was able to offer insights on how a lawyer approaches a difficult appellate argument and fielded questions on everything from developments in constitutional interpretation to the background of the Fisher case.  (He was kind enough to stay after and answer additional questions, as well, from his eager audience.)

Mr. Jeff Wall answers additional questions from the SPS students
This afternoon the emphasis switched from law to medicine and public health, as the St. Albans School of Public Service was fortunate enough to host Ambassador Deborah Birx, M.D., the United States Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy.  In her four decades of service in public health, Dr. Birx has promoted public health with positions in the Department of Defense, CDC, NIH, and the State Department.  She spoke to our students about her current work, her path to public service, and then fielded wide-ranging questions about areas of public health concern in the U.S. and worldwide.