LEWISTON — Michael Chaney, executive director of the Frances Perkins Center, based in Newcastle, and Leah Sprague, founding board member and immediate past chair of the Frances Perkins Center, will be the speakers at the USM Lewiston/Auburn Senior College “Food for Thought” 11:30 luncheon on Friday, May 9.

They will give a presentation on Frances Perkins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor and the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet. The public is cordially invited.

Frances Perkins contributed to the New Deal, the creation of Social Security, establishing the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, the 40-hour work week, limits on child labor, and the modern middle class.

Learn about this self-made woman, with roots in the humble Maine farm her ancestors had settled in the 1750s, and her rise to become America’s leading advocate for industrial safety and worker’s rights.

Sprague is a graduate of Brown University and Boston University School of Law and is a retired justice of the Massachusetts Trial Court. Following her move to Maine in 2002, Sprague has continued her work in dispute resolution as a member of the Maine Bar.

Chaney, a native of Alna, holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Maine-Orono and a master’s in history from the University of Connecticut. Before returning to Maine in 2010, Chaney’s career was in nonprofit management and public history in Vermont and New Hampshire, including, from 2001 to 2009, serving as president and CEO of the New Hampshire Political Library.

The Senior College, now in its 16th year, presents the monthly 11:30 luncheon program in Function Room 170 at USM LAC. The cost, which includes lunch, is $7 with advance reservation or $8 at the door.

Reservations must be made by noon on Thursday, May 8, by calling 753-6510. Any late callers will be considered “at the door.”