Former Attorney General Janet Reno will deliver a lecture at SUNY Brockport’s Tuttle North Complex on March 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Reno was born July 21, 1938, in Miami, Florida. She studied chemistry at Cornell University, where she was president of the Women’s Student Government. In 1963, she earned a law degree from Harvard University where she was one of only 16 women in a class of more than 500.

In 1971, Reno was named staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives; in this position, she helped to rewrite the state constitution, reforming the court system. The following year she ran for a seat in the state legislature but lost.

She was elected state attorney in Dade County in 1978, becoming the first woman to head a county prosecutor’s office in Florida. Reno remained chief prosecutor in Miami until 1993, when she was nominated to the position of U.S. attorney general by President Clinton. When she was sworn into the position on March 12, 1993 she became the first women ever to hold the position.

In November 1995, Reno announced that she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a brain disorder that gradually lessens the ability to control one’s movements. Her openness about her condition and her unwillingness to let it affect her performance at the highest levels of government have set an admirable example, according to leading advocates of the cause.

Tickets are free for students with Brockport ID, $4 for faculty, staff, and alumni, and $5 for general public. To purchase tickets, visit the Brockport Student Government Box Office in the Seymour College Union or call 395-2487. Tickets can also be purchased through Ticketmaster at 232-1900. Tickets will also be available at the door (if supplies last).