The University of Delaware’s Biden Institute will hold a roundtable discussion, hosted by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and featuring several prominent participants, from 4-5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 19, in Mitchell Hall on the University’s Newark campus.

Titled “Choosing a Future of Quality Jobs,” the discussion will address the opportunities and challenges posed by transformations in the U.S. economy and how quality jobs can be created to support a growing middle class.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required, at this website.

Biden and UD President Dennis Assanis will welcome panelists and the audience to the event. Participants are:

Byron Auguste, president and co-founder of Opportunity@Work, a civic enterprise that aims to rewire the U.S. labor market in ways that enable more Americans to achieve upward mobility, and a former National Economic Council adviser in the Obama-Biden administration;

The Honorable Elaine L. Chao, U.S. secretary of transportation and former secretary of labor from 2001-09;

Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents some 2 million workers in fields such as health care, property services and public service;

Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, which encompasses 27 hotel properties and is expanding in the U.S. and globally; and

The Honorable Penny Pritzker, chairman of PSP Capital Partners and Pritzker Realty Group, a global private investment firm, and former U.S. secretary of commerce.

About the Biden Institute

The Sept. 19 roundtable is the kick-off event for the Biden Institute’s semester-long policy focus on jobs and the economy, which is expected to conclude with the release of proposed policy solutions.

Issues to be addressed include the impact of automation and other technology on U.S. labor markets, the growth of the gig economy and how workers in the future can obtain quality jobs with a living wage.

Each semester, the institute plans to focus on a specific area of policy, with a goal of shaping the public conversation in that area and affecting policymaking at the local, state and federal levels. A high-profile event will be held early each semester to introduce that policy focus.

The institute, housed in the College of Arts and Sciences’ School of Public Policy and Administration, is a research and policy center, focusing on solutions to issues ranging from economic reform and environmental sustainability to civil rights, criminal justice, women’s rights and more.

Biden—the 47th vice president of the United States, a U.S. senator from Delaware for 36 years, and a 1965 alumnus of the University of Delaware—serves as the institute’s founding chair, pairing his long-time work in domestic policy issues with the University’s strengths in public policy education and research.