ORONO – Madeleine Kunin, former governor of Vermont and U.S. deputy secretary of education, will present the Sen. Margaret Chase Smith Lecture on Public Policy at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at Minsky Hall, University of Maine.

The lecture, sponsored by the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy at UMaine and the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, is free and open to the public. Tickets must be obtained from the center.

Like Smith, Kunin forged new ground for woman leaders of the 20th century. Kunin will speak of her experiences as a leader and change maker, and will relate her experiences to the challenges facing leaders today in a world of rapidly shifting global alliances and political turmoil.

Kunin was a state legislator and lieutenant governor before becoming the first woman governor of her home state of Vermont, where she served three terms before moving on to the national political scene.

Kunin was tapped by former President Clinton to be deputy secretary of education, serving from 1993 to 1996. Clinton appointed her ambassador to Switzerland, where she facilitated the return of Swiss bank account funds to Holocaust survivors.

Kunin is the bicentennial scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont. She published her memoir, “Living a Political Life,” in 1994.

Tickets to the lecture may be obtained by calling 581-1646.