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Oct. 28, 2014 — Victoria Lipnic, a commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), will speak at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4 in the Tillotson Room of the Tippie Alumni Center at Allegheny College. The presentation, titled “The Enduring Power of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in Contemporary America,” is free and open to the public.

Her talk is part of the college’s Year of Voting Rights and Democratic Participation, which celebrates the 50th anniversary in 2015 of the Voting Rights Act and explores the state of civil rights, broadly defined, in the world today. The Year of Voting Rights and Democratic Participation is the academic centerpiece of the college’s bicentennial celebration.

A graduate of Allegheny College, Lipnic was nominated to serve as an EEOC commissioner by President Barack Obama and was confirmed by the Senate, for a term ending on July 1, 2015.

Lipnic has broad experience working with federal labor and employment laws, including as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment Standards, a position she held from 2002 until 2009. In that position, she oversaw the Wage and Hour Division, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs and the Office of Labor Management Standards.

Under her tenure, the Wage and Hour Division revised regulations regarding overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act and reissued regulations under the Family and Medical Leave Act. In addition, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued new guidance and regulations for evaluating compensation discrimination.

More information on Year of Voting Rights and Democratic Participation events at Allegheny College, which will feature a keynote presentation by Lani Guinier on November 14, among many other events, can be found at www.allegheny.edu/200.