| FOR RELEASE: September 5, 2008 |
Contact: Jane Glickman or Stephanie Babyak (202) 401-1576 |
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Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Stephanie Monroe will join 1,000 higher education leaders and policymakers on September 8 in Washington, D.C., during the 2008 national conference celebrating the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
This year's theme, "HBCUs: Established to Meet a Need, Evolving With the Times, Essential for Today and Tomorrow," recognizes the 105 HBCUs in the U.S. for their valuable academic, cultural, and economic contributions to American society.
The conference includes a host of panels and seminars discussing the critical issues, challenges, and opportunities facing HBCUs, such as workforce readiness; economic impact on HBCUs; health care disparities; HBCU graduate programs, environmental trends—greening the campus and curriculum, and campus radio and television at HBCUs.
In addition to Assistant Secretary Monroe, conference presenters include the following: Clarence Thomas, associate justice, U.S. Supreme Court; Condoleeza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State; Steve Preston, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Ben Bernanke, chairman, Federal Reserve; Kevin Klose, president, National Public Radio; Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary of Education and chairman, Chartwell Education Group; and more than 60 HBCU college presidents and chancellors.
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings' office coordinates the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which sponsors the annual conference and works with approximately 30 federal agencies to increase HBCUs' ability to successfully compete for federal grants and contracts. The department also provides staff and support for the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs, which is chaired by Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. This year's conference, with over 1,000 attending, is the largest in the history of HBCU Week.
A complete conference agenda is available online at http://hbcuweek.ed.gov/.
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