Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental activist, author, chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, will give the Kaplan Family Distinguished Lecture in Public Service, April 23, at Cornell University.

Kennedy's talk, titled "Our Environmental Destiny," will focus on the link between environmental and social activism and the role the academic community can play in educating citizens on the skills, knowledge and civic ethos needed to work actively for an equitable and sustainable society. The lecture is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall, and it is free and open to the public. However, tickets are required. They will be available in early April at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office, on campus.

The Kaplan Family Distinguished Lecture in Public Service was created from a gift to the university by Cornell alumna Barbara Kaplan '59, her husband, Leslie Kaplan, son Douglas Kaplan '88 and daughter Emily Kaplan '91, in recognition of the importance of the national movement in higher education for greater involvement in civic engagement. Kennedy will serve as the inaugural lecturer.

Continuing his family's activist legacy, Kennedy has gained a reputation as a resolute defender of the environment stemming from a litany of successful legal actions: prosecuting governments and companies for polluting the Hudson River and Long Island Sound; winning settlements for the Hudson Riverkeeper – an advocacy group that monitors the Hudson River ecosystem and challenges polluters, using both legal and grassroots campaigns; arguing cases to expand citizen access to the shoreline; and assisting several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada in successfully negotiating treaties protecting their traditional homelands. He also is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply. The watershed agreement he negotiated is considered an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.Kennedy is the author of several books, the most recent of which is The Riverkeepers (1997), written with fellow Hudson River activist John Cronin. Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard University, studied at the London School of Economics and received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School. He also received a master's degree in environmental law from the Pace University School of Law.

The Kaplan Family Endowment for Public Service, a gift to Cornell from the Kaplans in 2001, supports, through the Cornell Public Service Center, both the annual lecture series and the Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship in Service-Learning, which will be presented this year at a special dinner following Kennedy's lecture. Two annual $5,000 awards were established for faculty scholars seeking to create or expand innovative service-learning projects that actively involve Cornell students in community-based learning, research and outreach efforts.

"The Kaplan family's support is vital for the fostering of the Cornell Public Service Center's mission, which speaks of education for democratic citizenship and the overall land-grant mission of the university," said Leonardo Vargas-Méndez, executive director of the center. "The Kaplan Family Lecture in Public Service helps us to bring attention to fundamental issues and policies affecting communities and the larger society, while asserting the historical role and commitment of universities, and Cornell in particular, in aiding citizens to bring about positive social change for the betterment of everyone. The Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship in Service-Learning, on the other hand, aims to further develop the connection between the academic curriculum and the work of communities by recognizing faculty who are exemplary in integrating their pedagogical and research practices with democratic action in the community."

For further information on the lecture or the fellowship, contact Leonardo Vargas-Méndez at (607) 255-0674 or ljv1@cornell.edu .