Editors: A digital photo of John Whitaker, taken during the time of his service, is available by e-mailing caughey@colorado.edu or calling (303) 492-4007.
John C. Whitaker, the former undersecretary of the interior who dealt with environmental and natural resource policy in the Nixon administration from 1969 to 1975, will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Nov. 19.
Whitaker will speak at 7 p.m. in Old Main Chapel in a conversation with CU-Boulder history and environmental studies Professor Patricia Limerick and distinguished law Professor Charles Wilkinson.
The talk is free and open to the public. The event is part of the 2003-04 Wren and Tim Wirth Forum on the American West, which is bringing five former secretaries of the interior, and current Secretary Gale Norton, to campus to discuss their roles in shaping the West. The series is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West, The Nature Conservancy and the Denver law firm of Brownstein, Hyatt and Farber.
Whitaker, who holds a doctorate in geology, served on the Nixon White House staff from 1969 to 1972 and from 1973 to 1975 as undersecretary of the interior. At the White House, Whitaker dealt with the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, tightening pesticide and toxic waste regulations, new clean water and air legislation and modernizing lease policies on public lands for oil shale and geothermal development.
As undersecretary, Whitaker served with Interior Secretary Rogers Morton, who died in 1979. Morton and Whitaker prided themselves on their ability to walk the fine line between groups seeking to preserve the natural environment and those seeking to develop natural resources.
For more information on the lecture series contact the Center of the American West at (303) 492-4879 or , or The Nature Conservancy at (303) 444-2985 ext. 1606 or .