The oldest living President, his first lady and a Supreme Court justice are just a few of the political heavy-weights that will make an appearance in Athens this weekend.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of his inauguration, President Jimmy Carter – and some of the most notable names in U.S. politics – will help moderate a three-day conference at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

Looking more like the set of “The West Wing” than a college campus, the Secret Service, U.S. Marshalls and even C-SPAN are bringing crews to the conference, “The Carter Presidency: Lessons for the 21st Century.”

In addition to Carter, parts of the event will be moderated by First Lady Rosalynn Carter, former Vice President Walter Mondale and Brian Williams, managing editor and anchor on NBC Nightly News.

The conference will take issues that were crucial to the Carter administration and attempt “to come up with lessons for contemporary policy makers,” said John Maltese, a professor of political science and the conference director.

“We didn’t want it to be backward looking,” he said. “It turned out it was easy because so many of the issues the Carter administration faced are relevant today.”

Students who want a chance to question the President and First Lady in person can attend a Town Hall meeting on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The meeting is free and open to the public but will have limited seating. Overflow seating will be available in other rooms of the Georgia Center and at Stegeman Coliseum.

“In my 18 years at the University, I don’t remember this many people coming together at once at this level of policymaking,” Maltese said.

Some of the participants who will be moderating the smaller break-out panels include former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski and Carter’s former press secretary Jody Powell.

More than 30 top scholars will present papers on the conference’s main topics – energy policy, Islamic fundamentalism, human rights and the Middle East.

Hamilton Jordan, Carter’s White House chief of staff and a faculty member in Carl Vinson came up with the idea for the conference while he was working on a book about the Carter presidency, Maltese said.

Jordan presented the idea to Carter, who was “excited” about the idea, Maltese said.

“He was also eager that it be a very balanced program, to have people who were critical of his administration and people who worked for his administration,” he said.

Thomas Lauth, dean of SPIA, said it “seems fitting that the flagship institution in his home state would be the place where this conference is being held.”

“These are very busy people, and I suspect that they get many, many invitations,” Lauth said. “And they chose to come to this conference. That’s a tribute to President Carter, the organizers (of the conference) and to the University.”

The event is co-sponsored by the School of Public and International Affairs and the Carl Vinson Institute for Government.

The Saturday and Sunday events will be broadcast live on C-SPAN.