Former White House staffer to be featured speaker

The former Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement will be the featured speaker in the Profiles of Women in Government Lecture Series at Pittsburg State University Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Tina Tchen, the 14th speaker in the series, will begin her address at 7 p.m. in the Linda and Lee Scott Performance Hall at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts, with a reception to follow in the art gallery.

The Women in Government Lecture Series was established at Pittsburg State in 2001 through a generous gift from the Helen S. Boylan Foundation to the PSU Foundation.

During her eight years in the White House, Tchen served as chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, special assistant to President Barack Obama, and the executive director of the Council on Women and Girls, leading the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families.

An attorney, Tchen’s career accomplishments have established her as a powerful advocate for gender equality. She has championed women’s and children’s issues, and will share her perspective and insights on workforce diversity and inclusion, breaking through male-dominated industries, and ending campus assault.

Past speakers in the series have included former First Lady Laura Bush, Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Jackie McClaskey, and Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, to name a few. The presentation is free and open to the public.