Note: Paul Ryan’s visit to the La Follette School, which was postponed due to inclement weather, has been rescheduled for September 26, 2023.
Registration will open September 1 and all attendees will need to register (even if they already registered for the original event in February).
Paul Ryan, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will serve as the La Follette School’s second Policymaker in Residence. Ryan will visit campus on Wednesday, February 22 to share what he has learned from two decades in Congress through class visits, meetings with students and faculty, and an in-person and livestreamed public presentation. The public event, which will take place at 6 p.m. on February 22, will include a conversation and Q&A session with La Follette School Director and Professor Susan Webb Yackee. Audience members are invited to submit a question for Speaker Ryan. Tickets for the free public event are required and will be available February 1.
During his tenure as Speaker of the House from 2015 to 2019, Ryan spearheaded efforts to make changes affecting the tax code, national defense, domestic energy production, the opioid epidemic, and the criminal justice system. Known for his continued efforts to control government spending, Ryan played a major role in proposals that advocated for federal tax cuts, the privatization of Medicare, and Medicaid program reforms. In 2012, Ryan was selected to serve as Governor Mitt Romney’s Vice-Presidential nominee. Ryan was first elected to Congress at age 28 and represented Wisconsin’s First District for two decades.
In 2019, Ryan launched the American Idea Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to expand economic opportunity by partnering with local organizations and academics to advance evidence-based public policies. Ryan is the co-editor of a 2022 book, American Renewal, which offers a conservative plan to improve the American economy. A native of Janesville, Wisconsin, he is a professor of practice at the University of Notre Dame and a visiting fellow in the practice of public policy at the American Enterprise Institute.
The Policymaker in Residence program is funded by the Kohl Initiative and provides students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn from seasoned public servants. One of the main goals of the program is to share lessons from real-world examples of when evidence-based policymaking has successfully impacted society’s most pressing issues and when it has fallen short, and to encourage discussion and debate about policymaking.
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