Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, will speak at the University Dec. 3, in honor of the late Eli Segal '64, a former Clinton adviser who died in February 2006, University President Jehuda Reinharz announced in a campuswide e-mail Monday afternoon.Clinton, who served two terms between 1993 and 2001, is delivering the inaugural memorial lecture for the Eli Segal Citizen Leadership Program, a new fellowship initiative for civic-minded undergraduates and graduate students within the Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Segal's widow, Phyllis Segal '66, initiated the program, Reinharz wrote in his e-mail.

"It's a phenomenal honor to have a former president speak at the school, particularly one who has really championed so much of what the Heller School stands for in terms of social justice and promoting the kinds of activities that create social justice," Heller School Dean Stuart Altman said in a phone interview Monday evening.

The lecture will be held in the Shapiro Gymnasium in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, and is tentatively scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Reinharz wrote. Tickets will be free but limited due to space considerations, he wrote, and simulcast presentations will be broadcast in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater and in the Zinner Forum at the Heller School.

Clinton informed Eli's widow about a month ago that he would be "honored" to speak at Brandeis in Eli's honor, said Provost Marty Krauss, who has been working with Phyllis on this project.

"The Segals and the Clintons were very close throughout their lives, and Bill Clinton agreed to be the inaugural lecturer for this program," Krauss said Monday evening.

Segal, who died at age 63, and helped run Clinton's 1992 campaign as well as Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy's run for president in 1968, also created two prominent social justice projects as Clinton's assistant in the White House, including AmeriCorps and the Welfare to Work for Partnership, and was a trustee of several nonprofit organizations such as CityYear, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (both of which he chaired) and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Segal was also a chair for the Brandeis Transitional Year Program and a member of the Board of Overseers at the Heller School.

"Eli Segal was a practical prophet," Reinharz wrote in his e-mail. "He knew that a strong democratic society depends on support for volunteerism, good citizenship and citizen leadership."

Although the purpose of Clinton's address will be to memorialize Segal, Altman said he hopes the former president will also speak about general social justice issues and his new book about philanthropy, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, which was published last month.

"I'm sure President Clinton will talk about Elliot Segal, but I'm hoping he will go beyond that to talk about the broader issues of the need for all of us to do more to promote social justice around the world, which is what the Heller School stands for," Altman said.

Phyllis' goal is to raise a $4 million endowment for the program through a national fundraising campaign for the new program, Krauss said.

"We are providing [Phyllis] assistance in her fundraising efforts, but she is primarily using her own networks of donors, of friends who are involved with Eli Segal and who are excited with this new program," Krauss said.

Phyllis was at a conference in New York City Monday night and wasn't available for comment by press time.

The program will have three components: a paid summer internship for selected undergraduates and Heller students in civic-minded organizations, the creation of an alumni network for the program and an annual public lecture on civic engagement by a "high profile" individual, the first of which will be given by Clinton.

A group of mentors drawn from Eli's friends, family and colleagues will choose the interns and internship sites, Reinharz wrote.

Clinton will be the second former president to visit Brandeis within a year. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, spoke on campus last January about his book on Arab-Israeli relations, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

Having two former presidents speak at Brandeis "shows what a terrific place this is, what an exciting and dynamic university we have here," University Spokesperson Lorna Miles said Monday evening.

Krauss said that cost for bringing Clinton and the exact security provisions for the event haven't been determined.

Security for Carter's visit last January cost the University $95,000.

"We are just beginning to get down to that level of detail," Krauss said.

Miles, however, said that any security implemented on campus for the event will follow the requirements of the Secret Service, a security force that accompanies current and former presidents. She added that the Office of Communications will create a Web site soon with more details about the event.