Wednesday, Nov. 13 | Noon to 1 p.m. CST | Zoom ID:  977 5557 6923 

Join occupational safety, labor, and environmental experts discussing the risks of extreme temperatures for outdoor workers in a changing climate and the recently proposed OSHA rule to protect workers from hazardous heat.

Paul Iversen, Moderator

Paul Iversen joined the Labor Center staff as a Labor Educator in January, 2011. He teaches on a range of subjects, and has particular expertise in labor and employment law, contract administration and enforcement, labor arbitration, occupational health and safety, and building and construction trades issues (including the application of Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage statutes).

For Professor Iversen's full bio, visit the University of Iowa Labor Center.

Debbie Berkowitz, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, Georgetown University 

Debbie Berkowitz is a worker safety and health policy expert and advocate. Before coming the Kalmanovitz Initiative, she was the Worker Safety and Health Program Director at the National Employment Law Project for six years where she worked with national and state partners to develop successful policies and campaigns that improved conditions for vulnerable, low-wage workers in dangerous industries, including temporary workers and those in the meat, poultry and food industry. Most recently she helped lead campaigns for stronger State and Federal standards to protect workers from COVID-19.   

She is the author of widely cited reports and research on model  policies to improve worker safety and workers’ compensation systems. Her past positions include serving as chief of staff and then the senior policy advisor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (2009-2015). Debbie was also the  health and safety director of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the health and safety director of the Food and Allied Service Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. She  has testified before Congressional and state legislative committee hearings and her writing has been published in the Washington Post, Bloomberg BNA, Workers’ Compensation, Quartz, the Hill and more. Debbie  is regularly quoted by major news outlets for her expertise on worker safety and health. Debbie is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Public Health Association’s Alice Hamilton Award. 

Amanda Villa, UFW Foundation

Amanda Villa is the Michigan State Director for the UFW Foundation, bringing a deep understanding of farmworker issues and advocacy to the role. She is passionate about improving the lives of agricultural workers and their families since she comes from a farmworker family herself. Amanda works to promote workers' rights, access to education/knowledge, and community resources, ensuring that farmworkers are empowered and heard. Her commitment to social justice and equity drives her efforts to uplift the voices of those in the agricultural community.

Lorraine Gaynor, Iowa Law 

Lorraine Gaynor (11JD) joined the faculty as assistant professor of legal analysis, writing, and research in 2024.

Prior to Iowa Law, Gaynor was a senior staff attorney for Iowa Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance and education to low-income and vulnerable Iowans. From 2011 - 2013, Gaynor served in the U.S. Attorney General’s Honors Program as judicial law clerk and attorney adviser in the Executive Office for Immigration Review, a unit of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gaynor graduated Order of the Coif from Iowa Law and served as president of the University of Iowa Campaign for Human Rights.