(NOTE TO MEDIA: More information on set-up, parking and other parameters for journalists will be provided prior to the May ceremony.)
President Bill Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd president of the United States, will address the 2010 graduating class of West Virginia University’s largest college – the first current or former U.S. president to speak at a University commencement, campus officials announced today (March 29).
Clinton will address the graduates of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at the WVU Coliseum.
“WVU is honored that President Bill Clinton will be on campus to address our Eberly College graduates,” said WVU President James P. Clements.
“President Clinton’s humanitarian work, especially related to international efforts involving the treatment and prevention of AIDS and ongoing relief efforts in Haiti following the recent earthquake, has been exemplary,” said Dr. Clements, who will introduce the former president.
“Similarly, his passion to work on health issues important to our state and nation such as childhood obesity is important to this generation. I’m sure our Eberly College graduates, their families and guests will be inspired by his remarks.”
More than 1,200 Eberly College graduates are expected to receive their diplomas this spring, said Rudolph P. Almasy, interim dean. The ceremony, one of 14 graduation exercises being held at the University May 14-16, will be webcast at www.webcast.wvu.edu.
“We are excited to host President Clinton,” said Dean Almasy. “As a Phi Beta Kappan, we know that he will be at home amongst an audience of arts and science graduates and their families and friends.
“The president has always been an advocate of the transforming power of education, and an embodiment of the value of a broad-based liberal arts education. We know his remarks will be a clarion call to our students to embody the concepts of lifelong learning and service that they have cultivated in their studies here in the Eberly College.”
Former WVU Student Government Association president Jason Parsons, a political science major from Seth, W.Va., was vital in securing President Clinton’s visit to WVU.
Parsons currently participates in Clinton Global Initiative University, which engages university students, organizations and administrators to make commitments that address global issues with practical, innovative solutions.
Parsons put together and runs the West Virginia Children’s Literacy Initiative, a program that recruits high school and middle school students to gather books for redistribution to elementary schools and public libraries and helps educate parents on the importance of literacy.
“Like many young people, I deeply admire President Clinton for the good work he does around the world and I am deeply honored that he’s accepted the invitation to speak at Eberly’s commencement,” Parsons said.
“This is a great honor for the WVU community and the citizens of the state to welcome him back to West Virginia.”
President Clinton was the first Democratic president in six decades to be elected twice – first in 1992 and then in 1996. Under his leadership, the country enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, including the creation of more than 22 million jobs.
After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.
Today the Foundation has staff and volunteers around the world working to improve lives through several initiatives, including the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (now the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a separate nonprofit organization) which is helping 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS access to lifesaving drugs. Other initiatives are applying a business-oriented approach worldwide to fight climate change and develop sustainable economic growth in Africa and Latin America.
As a project of the Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative brings together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. In the U.S. the Foundation is working to combat the rise in childhood obesity, and is helping individuals and families succeed and small businesses grow.
In addition to his Foundation work, President Clinton has joined with former President George H.W. Bush three times – after the 2004 tsunami in South Asia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008 – to help raise money for recovery efforts and served as the U.N. Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.
President Clinton was named U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti in 2009 to assist the government and the people of Haiti as they “build back better” after a series of hurricanes battered the country in 2008. Following this year’s devastating earthquake, President Clinton dedicated Clinton Foundation resources to help with immediate and long-term relief and assistance, and at the request of President Obama, joined with President George W. Bush to establish the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, which supports highly effective organizations on the ground in long-term rebuilding efforts.
President Clinton was born on Aug. 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark. He and his wife Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have one daughter, Chelsea, and live in Chappaqua, NY.
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CONTACT: Clinton Foundation Press Office
press@clintonfoundation.org
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