U.S. Sen. Angus King.

U.S. Sen. Angus King will deliver remarks titled How Washington Works (Or Doesn’t) in a Civic Forum Series event at  ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Sponsored by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, the talk is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please call 207-786-6202.

The Civic Forum Series invites audiences to contemplate civic, political, and policy issues significant to Maine and beyond. The Harward Center for Community Partnerships supports ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ students, faculty, and staff in realizing the college’s civic mission through partnerships that connect the college and the community in mutually beneficial and transformative ways.

King was sworn in as Maine’s first independent United States senator in 2013. He is a steadfast believer in the need for greater bipartisan dialogue and relationship building among legislators.

Beginning his career as a staff attorney for Pine Tree Legal Assistance, King worked with Maine Sen. William D. Hathaway in Washington, D.C., returned to Maine to practice law, and in the 1980s became involved in energy development and conservation.

In 1994, he was elected Maine’s 72nd governor, at the time the nation’s only independent governor. During his two terms in the Blaine House, he focused on economic development and job creation, and also achieved significant reforms in education, mental health services, land conservation, environmental protection, and the delivery of state services.

He was re-elected in 1998 by one of the largest margins in Maine’s history. A particularly well-known King achievement was the creation of a nationally recognized program to provide laptop computers to every seventh- and eighth-grade student in the state.

King has served as a principal in Independence Wind LLC, has been of counsel to the Portland law firm of Bernstein, Shur, and has taught at Bowdoin and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ colleges.

U.S. Sen. Angus King (shown teaching at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ in 2009) gives a Harward Center Civic Forum talk on Oct. 14. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College)

He was born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1944. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1966 and from University of Virginia Law School in 1969.

Upon leaving the Blaine House in 2003, King and his family spent five and a half months driving around the U.S. in a 40-foot RV. Driving coast to coast and reaching the four corners of the Lower 48, the family covered some 15,000 miles. King wrote about their experiences in Governor’s Travels: How I Left Politics, Learned to Back Up a Bus, and Found America (Down East Books, 2011).

Taking part in the 8 p.m. session in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall will be Republican nominee Susan Collins, Democratic standard-bearer Joseph Brennan, and independents John Rensenbrink and Bill Clarke.

The debate will be carried live on WMTW, channel 8, and WVII in Bangor. The session will begin with questions from a panel consisting of Elizabeth Tobin, associate professor of history at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, WMTW political reporter Jeff Toorish and WVII news anchor Dale Dixon. WMTW news anchor Jeannine Lauber will be the moderator. The candidates will take questions from the audience.

Any tickets remaining after distribution to students will be available starting Wednesday, Oct. 16, at the Office of Special Projects and Summer Programs, 163 Wood St.

Because this is a live telecast, the audience is asked to be seated by 7:45 p.m.