JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG AND BRAZILIAN ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER JAIME LERNER TO BE HONORED AT U.VA. THIS SPRING CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 13 -- A U.S. Supreme Court justice and a Brazilian political leader and architect known for his environmental vision will be honored and give public lectures at the University of Virginia this semester. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneer for women in the legal profession who in 1993 became the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, will speak March 7 and in April will receive the 21st annual Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Award in Law. Jaime Lerner, governor of the state of Parana, Brazil, and former mayor of the city of Curitiba, who has attracted worldwide attention for making that city an environmental model, will receive the 32nd annual Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation Medal in Architecture and will be involved in several public activities in April. The awards recognize distinguished contributions in two fields that were of deep interest to Jefferson and are the highest outside honors conferred by U.Va., which awards no honorary degrees. The prizes are sponsored by the University and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello, Jefferson's home. The Thomas Jefferson award ceremony will take place at a private luncheon in the Rotunda in April, commemorating the University Founder's 254th birthday. Prior to receiving the award in April, Ginsburg will participate in two classes and meet with students and faculty at the law school. She will give a public talk at the law school's Caplin Auditorium at 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 7. (Free parking will be available in all D-2 lots at the law school.) Lerner will visit the University in April and work closely with students, faculty and local community leaders on environmental issues. He will give a public lecture at 5 p.m. Sunday, April 13, on the north steps of the Rotunda. He will also give a public talk in Old Cabell Hall Auditorium at 1 p.m. Monday, April 14. "Justice Ginsburg's early successes as an advocate for women's rights, and her distinguished judicial career personify all that is right about the law as a professional calling," said Robert E. Scott, dean of the School of Law. "Her commitment to reasoned debate and fair mindedness show all of us how good lawyers can serve the public interest." William A. McDonough, dean of the School of Architecture, said, "Jaime Lerner exemplifies the dedication, creativity and foresight that leaders and all citizens must bring to making our cities more liveable places. He has shown that it is possible even in the face of many obstacles to find eloquent and integrated solutions to serious social, economic and environmental concerns and to inspire our hope for a sustainable world." Ginsburg, appointed to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton, has long worked toward ending institutionalized discrimination against women. A native of Brooklyn, she was educated at Cornell University and the law schools at Harvard and Columbia universities. She taught at Rutgers University School of Law from 1963 to 1972, and then returned to Columbia Law School where she became the first tenured female professor there. Between 1973 and 1976 she argued six cases on women's rights before the Supreme Court and won five of them. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she became known for her scholarly, balanced opinions. Seen as a moderate-liberal with independent views throughout her judicial career, Ginsburg has lectured and written widely. Among her many professional activities, she founded the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project and served as its counsel from 1972 to 1980. She also served as the ACLU's general counsel and on its board of directors. She was on the American Bar Association Journal's Board of Editors from 1972 to 1978 and the American Law Institute's council from 1978 to 1993. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Jaime Lerner, a native of Curitiba, trained in France as an architect and urban planner. As mayor of the growing capital city of the state of Parana, in southeast Brazil, for more than two decades, he gained international attention among environmentalists for finding answers to problems caused by rapid urban development. Some have called the city, with a population of more than 2 million and many low-income families, the most environmentally advanced urban area in the world. Lerner's vision is easy to grasp, according to International Wildlife magazine: "Use your car less and separate your garbage." He has specialized in solutions that solve more than one problem. Faced with rapid growth, Lerner pushed for a high-density city that would give residents easy access to jobs, shopping and another needs and would avoid the long commuting distances and urban sprawl of North American cities. He called for new buildings to be grouped along five radial roads leading to the city center and he converted the busiest downtown avenue into a popular pedestrian mall. In the center of each main road are special lanes reserved for express buses that have tube-like attachments to make boarding rapid and easy. With buses cheaper and faster than cars, the system is so workable that most commuters take the bus. And even though car ownership is high, fuel consumption is less than the Brazilian average and Curitiba's air is among the cleanest of any Brazilian city. The bus system, running much a like an urban rail system, is one of the main elements of Curitiba's environmental success. Among other notable innovations in Curitiba under Lerner's leadership: -- a special industrial zone that provides many jobs but is compact and restricted to low polluting industries -- special programs regularly adding to trees, parks and green space -- to discourage the garbage-dumping common to poor urban areas, a program of providing staple foods to residents in return for bagged refuse -- strong emphasis on recycling, which is taught widely in schools. In addition, street sweepers and others are able to sell items to recycling centers. As a result Curitiba has among the best recycling rates in the world. -- a city philosophy that low-income residents need good basic services, including free medical care, for a place to be truly liveable. Past winners of the Jefferson architecture medal include such leading figures as Mies van der Rohe, Lewis Mumford, I.M. Pei, Ada Louise Huxtable, Philip Johnson, Vincent Scully, Robert Venturi, Aldo Rossi, Fumihiko Maki, Frank O. Gehry, Ian McHarg and Jane Jacobs. The Jefferson award in law has been conferred on a wide range of judges, legal scholars and public servants, including Supreme Court Justices Lewis F. Powell, Jr. and Sandra Day O'Connor, Chief Justices Warren E. Burger and William H. Rehnquist, children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman and former U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie. ### February 12, 1997 For additional information, please contact Bob Brickhouse or Katherine Jackson in U.Va. News Services at (804) 924-7116. Television reporters should call our TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.