The Fels Institute of Government was honored to welcome US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to the Public Policy in Practice speaker series on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. In a conversation facilitated by Distinguished Fellow Elizabeth Vale, Secretary Buttigieg discussed his broad career in public service and his experience in his current role leading national transportation policy. He shared the impact of working across the aisle, including the development and passage of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to rebuild the country’s infrastructure.
In the moderated Q&A, Fels students and the public audience had the opportunity to ask Secretary Buttigieg questions about the future of democracy, his strategies for communicating complex policy, and his experience as a young leader. He also noted the impact elected officials can make at the local level of government, with anecdotes from his two terms as mayor of his hometown, South Bend, Indiana. Secretary Buttigieg ended on a personal note about his optimism and hope for the future, with a call to action for students studying public policy to figure out how to use the tools of government to work to protect democracy.
Read full coverage of this event in Penn Today.
