On Tuesday, Associate Professor of History, Amy J. Rutenberg, will give the Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s Lecture on the controversial bill that recently passed through the House of Representatives. The lecture will take place at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Great Hall.

Assuming it makes it through the Senate and is signed by President Biden, this bill would require all eligible women to register for the draft.

Dean Beate Schmittmann nominated Rutenberg to give the lecture. Every semester, the LAS Dean selects a distinguished faculty member to present the Dean’s lecture on a topic of their expertise and interest. Rutenberg expressed her feelings about being selected for the lecture.

“It was an honor,” Rutenberg said. “When I arrived at Iowa State in 2015 I was pretty much unknown in my field and on campus. To do this certainly shows that I’ve gone somewhere with my career since then, which is nice.”

The event is free to attend and will also be live-streamed here. The topic of the LAS Dean’s Lecture is decided by the lecturer, meant to be a topic in which the speaker is an expert but one that also captivates the public’s interest. Rutenberg explained her choice for the lecture.

“It’s in Congress right now, whether women should be leveled for the draft, it seemed a no-brainer that this would be a good topic,” Rutenberg said.

Between her books and research on topics of gender, drafts and military service and the bill currently floating through Congress, Rutenberg’s lecture is sure to fit the expectations of an LAS Distinguished Dean’s Lecture.

The title of Rutenberg’s lecture is “Uncle Sam Wants Who? Women, Men and the Meaning of American Selective Service.” Rutenberg aims to explain just why the draft bill is so controversial while exploring the nature of the draft and the influence it has had on different demographics of Americans over time. 

Ruttenberg received her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University. She then continued her education, earning her master’s degree from Harvard University and her doctorate from the University of Maryland.

She has researched gender roles in the military service and is an expert in the history surrounding the draft, having written the book “Rough Draft: Cold War Military Manpower Policy and the Origins of Vietnam-Era Draft Resistance.”

Rutenberg is currently working on another book on peace activism which took place in the military service between 1970 and 1990.