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Lee to discuss difficulty of civil discourse Wednesday
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Lee
MONROE - Mordecai Lee, a governmental affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Wisconsin State Senate, will speak on the topic "Why is Civil Discourse So Difficult Nowadays?" at 7 p.m. Wednesday at in the Gunderson Stiles Concert Hall at the Monroe Arts Center, 1315 11th St.

A reception will follow in the Frehner Gallery. The free event is open to the public.

Lee will address the difficulty of civil discourse by comparing the 20th century's era of doubt with the 21st century's era of political certainty.

From 1972 to 1976, Lee served in Washington, D.C. as a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and then on Capitol Hill as legislative assistant U.S. Rep. Henry Reuss. Lee was elected to the state Assembly from Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood in 1976, 1978 and 1980. He was elected state senator in 1982 and reelected four years later.

In 1990, he was appointed executive director of a nonprofit agency, the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations. His responsibilities included advocacy, interfaith relations, board liaison, lobbying and serving as the media spokesperson for Milwaukee's Jewish community.

Lee has received awards for training programs he created and been the recipient of research grants from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and for the 33rd annual Fromkin Lecture at UW-Milwaukee. He is active in national organizations and has been appointed or elected to various positions in the American Society for Public Administration and the Association for Research in Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.

He holds a. Ph.D., Public Administration, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs-Syracuse University; Master's in Public Administration; Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs-Syracuse University; and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2002, he was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor, and in 2006, was promoted to professor. His responsibilities include overseeing the noncredit Certificate in Public Administration and Professional Certificate in Nonprofit Management. He has also been designated by UW-Milwaukee graduate school as a graduate faculty member and teaches in the Master of Public Administration program.

He is the author of six books, and a regularly featured guest on the Wisconsin Public Television program, "Here and Now." In 1986, Milwaukee Magazine named him one of "Wisconsin's Ten Best Legislators."