UMD News Releases

Arthur J. Rolnick, the Senior Vice President and Director of Research of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, will be the featured speaker for the first Public Policy Lecture of the 2005-06 school year, sponsored by the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Center for Advocacy and Political Leadership.

The lecture, open to the public, is at 12 noon, Saturday, October 22, in the UMD Griggs Center, located at 1208 Kirby Drive.

Mr. Rolnick has been in the middle of a national debate in recent years because of his insistence that investment in early childhood education is arguably the most cost effective investment that government an make. Politically very conservative groups often counter that early childhood education is a family responsibility and should not be supported by government. The State of Minnesota has considerably reduced it's investment in early childhood education in the past two years, despite the efforts of those, like Rolnick, who think the program should be supported. Rolnick will talk about his research and the case to be made for early childhood education and will answer questions from the audience.

"We're attempting," said Wy Spano, Director of the Center for Advocacy and Political Leadership, "to bring in speakers who'll be interesting to our masters degree classes at the Center, and also of interest to those in the Twin Ports interested in public policy."

Those attending may buy lunch in the Kirby Plaza Food Court (on Kirby Drive street level) and may eat lunch during the presentation.

About Arthur Rolnick:
As a top official of the Federal Reserve Bank, Rolnick regularly attends meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee-the Federal Reserve's principal body responsible for establishing national money and credit policies.

Rolnick's essays on such public policy issues as "Congress Should End the Economic War Among the States," "A Plan to Address the Too-Big-To-Fail Problem" and "The Economics of Early Childhood Development" have gained national attention. His research interests include banking and financial economics, monetary policy, monetary history, the economics of federalism, and the economics of education.

Rolnick has been a visiting professor of economics at Boston College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Minnesota. Most recently he was an adjunct professor of economics, MBA program, Lingnan College, Guangzhou, China and the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. He is past president of the Minnesota Economic Association. He serves on several nonprofit boards including the Minnesota Council on Economic Education, Greater Twin Cities United Way, Citizens League of Minnesota and Ready 4 K, an advocacy organization for early childhood development. He is also on the Minneapolis Star and Tribune's Board of Economists, and is a member of Minnesota's Council of Economic Advisors.

A native of Michigan, Rolnick has a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in economics from Wayne State University, Detroit; and a doctorate in economics from the University of Minnesota.