CARBONDALE, Ill. — Illinois State Sen. Dale Fowler is the next guest in the virtual speaker series hosted by Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
Fowler, a Republican from Harrisburg, will join John Shaw, institute director, for a virtual conversation at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 26.
Fowler and Shaw will discuss the spring General Assembly session and Fowler’s legislative agenda including his work on the Cairo, Illinois, river port development project and his work on the Senate Higher Education Committee.
The event is free and open to the public and will be held on Zoom. Registration is required at paulsimoninstitute.org/events.
“Sen. Fowler is a hard-working lawmaker who has worked across party lines to do constructive things for Illinois, especially Southern Illinois,” Shaw said. “We are eager to learn more about his perspectives on the challenges confronting higher education in Illinois.”
Fowler is the Republican spokesperson for the Senate’s higher education and commerce committees. He has been an advocate for the construction of a port in Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Fowler is also a business development officer for Peoples National Bank in Harrisburg. He previously was mayor and city commissioner for Harrisburg and was a member of the Saline County Board. He also worked at the Vienna and Shawnee correctional centers and at the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg. He co-founded the Fowler-Bonan Foundation, which provides clothing and shoes to low-income children.
Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for Fowler on their registration form or by email to paulsimoninstitute@siu.edu.
The event is part of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute’s Understanding Our New World virtual conversation series with government and private sector leaders, policy experts, political analysts, authors, and journalists.