WASHINGTON, July 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The President today announced his
intent to appoint eleven members to the President's Commission on the
Celebration of Women in American History.
President Clinton has established the Commission to consider how best to
acknowledge and celebrate the roles and accomplishments of women in American
History. It will hold meetings to consider ideas for such celebration,
including a focal point for women's history in Washington, D.C., and the use
of technology to connect existing and planned historical sites, museums and
libraries. The first meeting of the Commission will be held on July 16, 1998,
during the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the first Women's Rights
Convention in America. The meeting will be held at the Canandaigua County
Courthouse, the site where Susan B. Anthony was tried and convicted for
voting. The
Commission's recommendations will be reported to the President.
Ann Lewis, White House Director of Communications, and Beth Newburger,
Associate Administrator for Public Affairs, General Services Administration,
are Co-Chairs of the Commission. Other members named by the President are
Johnnetta B. Cole, J. Michael Cook, Barbara Goldsmith, Ladonna Harris, Gloria
Johnson, Elaine Kim, Ellen Ochoa, Frances Preston and Anna Roosevelt.
Ann Lewis is the Director of Communications at the White House. Prior to her
work at the White House, Lewis was Vice President for Public Policy at the
Planned Parenthood Federation of America and headed two consulting companies
-- Politics Inc. and Ann F. Lewis Inc. From 1978 to 1981, she was Chief of
Staff to then-Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. In 1992, Lewis led
a study group on "Going First: Women as
Leaders in Contemporary Politics" for the Institute of Politics at the
Kennedy School of Government, and in 1998, she participated in the First
International Jewish Feminist Conference in Jerusalem. Lewis has been Chair
of the Commission for Women's Equality of the American Jewish Congress and a
national officer of the National Women's Political Caucus.
Beth Newburger is the General Services Administration's Associate
Administrator for Communications and chief spokesperson of the agency. Before
joining GSA, Newburger was outreach coordinator at the White House Office of
Women's Initiatives and Outreach. Between 1984 and 1995, Newburger founded
and was President and CEO of OWLCAT Inc. and Corabi Internal Telemetrics
Inc. She has also served as Marketing Manager
at the Washington Post and Publisher of the Washington Woman Magazine.
Newburger is currently Chairman of the Board of the Capital Children's Museum
and is a member of the Board of Directors of BOAT/U.S. and Arena Stage.
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, of Atlanta, Ga., is President Emerita, Spelman College
and Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women's Studies and
African American Studies at Emory University. Also an active author, Dr. Cole
has written and edited several textbooks in use today. Her most recent book
is Dream the Boldest Dreams: And Other Lessons of Life. She serves on the
Board of Trustees of The Rockefeller Foundation and Galludet University and
on the Advisory Board of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent
Social Change. Dr. Cole also serves on the board of the Center for Research
on Women at Wellesley College and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences. She is a Director of Merck & Co., Coca-Cola Enterprises, and
Home Depot. Dr. Cole has received numerous awards, including honorary degrees
from 41 colleges and universities and the first Eleanor Roosevelt
Education Award on the occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Women's
National Democratic Club.
J. Michael Cook, of Greenwich, Conn., is the Chairman and CEO of Deloitte &
Touche. He originally joined the firm in 1964, and became a partner in 1974.
Cook is also a Member of the Executive Committee of the Securities Regulati
on Institute, the Conference Board, and the U.S. Council for International
Business. In the public sector, Cook is Chairman of the Board of Governors of
the United Way of America and Chairman of the Board of Catalyst, the nation's
leading organization for the advancement of women in business. In 1994, he
was given the Director's Choice Award by the National Women's Economic
Alliance Foundation.
Barbara Goldsmith, of New York, N.Y., is an author and social historian. Her
latest book, "Other Powers -- The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the
Scandalous Victoria Woodhull," was published in March of 1998. Her other
books include "Johnson v. Johnson," "Little Gloria...Happy at Last," and
"The Straw Man." Goldsmith was a Founding and Contributing Editor of New York
magazine and Senior Editor of Harper's Bazaar. During her successful literary
career, Goldsmith has been the recipient of numerous book awards and several
doctorate degrees. Among her public service memberships, she has served on
the New York State Council on the Arts and as a Trustee of the New York
Public Library and a director of the National Dance Institute.
LaDonna Harris, of Bernalillo, N.M., is the President of Americans for Indian
Opportunity. An enrolled member of the Comanche Nation, Harris is an ardent
advocate for American Indians. For more than three decades, she has served as
a national leader for the advancement of basic human rights for all Americans
as an active participant in the
civil rights, environmental, women's and world peace movements. Harris was a
founding member of the National Urban League and Common Cause. She was an
original convener of the first Women's Political Caucus and helped organize
the Global Tomorrow Coalition and Women for Meaningful Summits. During her
career, Harris has served on many national boards, such as Girl Scouts USA,
National Organization of Women, Save the Children, and the Independent
Sector. She has founded several influential Native American organizations,
including the National Indian Housing Council, the Council
of Energy Resource Tribes and the National Tribal Environmental Council. She
also served on other Presidential commissions, including Carter's Commission
on Mental Health and Johnson's National Council on Indian Opportunity. She
was appointed by President Clinton to the American Indian Arts Board, by Vice
President Gore to the Advisory Council on the National Information
Infrastructure, and by Secretary of Energy O'Leary to the Secretary of Energy
Advisory Board.
Gloria T. Johnson, of Camp Springs, Md., has served as President of the
Coalition of Labor Union Women since 1993. She has also served for the past
ten years as Chair of the IUE Women's Council and Director of the Union's
Department of Social Action. Johnson was elected a Vice President of the
AFL-CIO in 1993, to become the second
African-American woman to ever hold that position, and is a member of the
AFL-CIO Executive Council. A long-time advocate of women's and civil rights,
Johnson has received several awards, including the PUSH Award for Outstanding
Women in the Labor Movement and the NAACP's First Annual Pathway to
Excellence Award "Women of Labor." She has represented the American Labor
Movement on labor and women's issues at many international conferences,
including Africa, Taiwan, Japan, Haiti, Brazil, Israel and Europe. Johnson
was appointed by President Carter to serve on the National
Advisory Council on Vocational Education.
Elaine H. Kim, of Oakland, Calif., is a Professor of Asian American Studies
and Chair of the Comparative Ethnic Studies Department at the University of
California, Berkeley. In addition to teaching, Dr. Kim has written and
co-authored numerous works including "Asian American Literature: An
Introduction to the Writings and Their Social Context" and
"East to America: Korean American Life Stories." She has also been active in
television, as the Associate Producer for "Slaying the Dragon: Asian Women in
U.S. Television" and as Co-Producer of "Sa-I-gu: From Korean Women's
Perspectives." Dr. Kim served as President of the Association for Asian
American Studies and as a member of the National Council of the American
Studies Association. She is a Co-Founder and member of the Board of Directors
of the Asian Women United of California, and a Co-Founder of Asian Immigrant
Women Advocates.
Ellen Ochoa, of Houston, Texas, is a Mission Specialist Astronaut at the NASA
Johnson Space Center. Dr. Ochoa joined NASA in 1988 and assumed her astronaut
role in 1990. Her flight mission assignments have been as Payload Commander
on STS-66 atmospheric research flight in November 1994, responsible for all
science payloads and robotic arm operator; and as Mission Specialist on
STS-56 atmospheric research flight
in April 1993, responsible for primary science payload and robotic arm
operator. Her current technical assignment is spacecraft communicator in
Mission Control Center. Additionally, Dr. Ochoa has delivered more than 120
talks for schools and educational groups on astronaut careers, space science
experiments and the importance of education, and logged over 500 hours flight
time in jet aircraft. Before joining NASA, Dr. Ochoa worked for Sandia
National Laboratories. She has received numerous awards,
including several NASA Space Flight Medals, the Women in Aerospace
Outstanding Achievement Award and the Albert Baez Award for Outstanding
Technical Contribution to Humanity from Hispanic Engineer National
Achievement Awards. Dr. Ochoa is a Member of the Stanford University School
Engineering Advisory Council and the Board of Directors of the Manned Space
Flight Education Foundation Inc.
Frances W. Preston, of Nashville, Tenn., is President and CEO of Broadcast
Music Inc (BMI). After working in the music and broadcasting industries in
Nashville, Preston joined BMI in 1958, progressing to become Senior Vice
President, Performing Rights in 1985,
and President and CEO in 1986. Preston also serves on the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences President's Advisory Council, the Boards of the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, and is a Vice
President of the National Music Council and an Honorary Trustee of the
National Academy of Popular Music (Songwriters Hall of Fame). She also serves
on the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Board of Overseers. Preston
received the American Women In Radio and Television's Outstanding Achievement
Award in 1988. She also became the first non-performing woman invited to join
the New York Friar's Club, and the first woman appointed to their Board of
Directors. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall
of Fame in 1992. Preston is a member of Vice President Gore's National
Information Infrastructure Advisory Council and served as a member of
President Carter's Panama Canal Study Committee.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, of Wilmette, Ill., is a granddaughter of Franklin and
Eleanor Roosevelt. Following graduation from Stanford and the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Roosevelt served on the faculty of Western
Kentucky University, teaching museum studies and working on the staff of The
Kentucky Museum for eight years.
She moved to Chicago in 1983, as a freelance collection consultant. Feeling
the tug of her family's roots, in 1987, Roosevelt became actively involved in
politics, serving as the Manager of Senator Paul Simon's Chicago office and
his 1990 re-election campaign. Currently, she is the Director of the The
Mayor's Office of Program Development for the City of Chicago and serves on
the Boards of the March of Dimes Birth Defects
Foundation, The White House Fellows Selection Committee, and the Cardinal
Bernardin Center. In addition to these roles, Roosevelt is the Chairman of
the Roosevelt Warm Springs Foundation and Vice President of the Franklin and
Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in New York.