New Fed Chair Bernanke to speak at conference, Feb. 24

Newly appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver a public address at Princeton University at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in Alexander Hall’s Richardson Auditorium.

Bernanke’s speech, which is co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the University’s Center for Economic Policy Studies, will be his first public address outside the capital since being confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

He will present the closing keynote address for a conference on government service as part of the Wilson School's yearlong 75th anniversary celebration.

Bernanke was a professor of economics at the University for 20 years until resigning from the faculty on July 1, 2005. He held a joint appointment in the Wilson School and the Department of Economics and served as chairman of the economics department from 1996 to 2002. Bernanke took a public service leave from the University in 2002 to serve as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. He was appointed chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in June of 2005.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Bernanke as the Federal Reserve chairman and a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Jan. 31, and he was sworn in Feb. 1.

Tickets for members of the University community will be available through an online lottery from 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, to noon Thursday, Feb. 16. A valid Princeton University ID is required to participate in the lottery, and one ticket will be allotted per person.

Bernanke’s speech is open to the news media, but advance registration is required by Tuesday, Feb. 21. Members of the press who wish to attend should submit contact information to the Office of Communications by calling (609) 258-3601 or by e-mailing commpro@princeton.edu before the Feb. 21 deadline.

All ticket holders will be required to bring their picture ID to gain entry to the event. Media will be required to show press credentials.

Members of the campus community and general public are welcome to come to the Richardson ticket office from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Feb. 23, to receive any remaining tickets that may be available. On the day of the event, there will also be a wait line for open seats that are still available at 5:25 p.m. in Richardson for anyone who did not receive a ticket.

All non-ticket holders may watch the address on simulcasts in rooms 10 and 50 of McCosh Hall. The event will also be broadcast live on the University's Channel 7 and Webcast live at http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia/.