University Fast Links Academic Affairs Academic Calendar Academic Community Engagement (ACE) Academic Planning and Assessment Accepted Students Admissions (Undergraduate) Admissions (Graduate) Admission Requirements Analytical Laboratory Advising (Medical/Dental Related) Advising (SAM Center) Agricultural Sciences and Engineering Technology Alumni Association Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative Army ROTC - Military Science Athletics Banner Banking Bearkat Camp Bearkat Express Payment Bearkat Marching Band Bearkat OneCard Bearkat Transfer Scholarship Blackboard Blinn College Transfers Bookstore Books & Supplies Budget Office Bursar's Office Business Administration Calendars Campus Map Career Services Catalogs Class Schedule Computer Account Creation Computer Labs Continuing Education Controller's Office Correspondence Course Division Counseling Center Criminal Justice Current Students Dean of Students' Office Departments Department of Dance Dining Services Directory Education Educator Preparation Services Emergency Management Employment Opportunities English Language Institute Enrollment Management Environmental, Health and Safety Office Exchange Mail Facilites Management Facilities Space Management Faculty Senate Faculty/Staff Directory Final Exam Schedule Finance and Operations Financial Aid Fine Arts and Mass Communication First-Year Experience General Information Graduate Studies Great Names Health Sciences Honors College Homecoming Human Resources Humanities and Social Sciences IT@Sam IT@Sam Service Desk Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC) Institutional Effectiveness Internal Grant Program Institutional Review Board (IRB) International Programs Joint Admission Students KatFacts Library (NGL) Lone Star College Transfers Lowman Student Center Map - Campus Marketing & Communications Math CAMP Medical & Allied Health Programs McNair Program Military Science Mobile Go Center Music Music Choir News Nursing Office of Business Services Office of the President Online Information Request Organization Chart Orientation - New Student PACE Parent Relations Office Parking Payroll Office Procurement and Business Services Procurement Opportunities Project Connect Property Prospective Students Public Safety Quality Enhancement Plan Reading Center Recreational Sports Registration Registrar's Office Research and Sponsored Programs Residence Life Risk Management Sam Shuttle SACS Reaffirmation Sam Houston Memorial Museum SamMenu (Download) SamWeb Sciences Services for Students with Disabilities Schedule of Classes Scholarships SHSU Marketplace Spirit Programs Staff Council Student Activities Student Government Association Student Health Center Student Legal Services Student Money Management Center Student Services Student Services Calendar Summer Camps Technology Tutorials Testing Center Theatre and Dance Today@Sam Tour the University Transcripts Transfer Equivalency Guide Transfer Students TRIES University Advancement University Center University Hotel University Park - Northwest Houston Campus University Police Department Veterans Visitor & Alumni Center The Woodlands Center Writing Center

James A. Baker III To Be Guest For President�s Speaker Series

Sept. 9, 2014
SHSU Media Contact: Julia May

James A. Baker III

James A. Baker, III, former United States secretary of state and one of only four persons who have received the Sam Houston Humanitarian Award, will come to Sam Houston State University on Oct. 16 as the featured guest for the President’s Speaker Series.

The event will take place at 11 a.m. in the James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center Concert Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Baker is no stranger to SHSU—he was the first recipient of the university’s Sam Houston Humanitarian Award, established in 1993 in honor of the 200th birthday of Texas hero Sam Houston, and he delivered the spring commencement address for SHSU in 2004.

Baker has served in senior government positions under three U. S. presidents. He served as the nation’s 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H. W. Bush.

During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the post-Cold War era.

Previously, he served as the 67th secretary of the treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. As treasury secretary, he was also chairman of the President’s Economic Policy Council. From 1981 to 1985, he served as White House chief of staff to President Reagan.

Baker’s record of public service began in 1975 as under secretary of commerce to President Gerald Ford. It concluded with his service as White House chief of staff and senior counselor to President Bush from August 1992 to January 1993.

From 1997 to 2004, Baker served as the personal envoy of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in seeking a political solution to the conflict over Western Sahara. In 2003, Baker was appointed special presidential envoy for President George W. Bush on the issue of Iraqi debt.

In 2005, he was co-chair with former President Jimmy Carter of the Commission on Federal Election Reform. In 2006, Baker and former U.S. Congressman Lee H. Hamilton served as the co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan blue-ribbon panel on Iraq. In 2008, Baker and the late Secretary of State Warren Christopher served as co-chairs of the National War Powers Commission.

A native Houstonian, Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952. After two years of active duty as a lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps, he entered the University of Texas School of Law. He received his law degree with honors in 1957 and practiced law with the Houston firm of Andrews and Kurth from 1957 to 1975.

His memoir—Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics! Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life—was published in October 2006

Baker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 and has been the recipient of many other awards for distinguished public service, including Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson Award, the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Award the Hans J. Morgenthau Award, the George F. Kennan Award, the Department of the Treasury’s Alexander Hamilton Award, the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award, and numerous honorary academic degrees.

Baker is currently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts. He is honorary chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University and serves on the board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The President’s Speaker Series was created in 2002 by SHSU President Emeritus Jim Gaertner and was originally underwritten by the estate of the late Huntsville resident Lu Ellen Gibbs. The series is designed to bring prominent leaders to the Sam Houston State University campus. Speakers are chosen for their ability to deliver messages of substance with the potential to significantly impact the student body.

 

- END -

 

 

This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office:
Associate Director: Julia May
Manager: Jennifer Gauntt
Located in Administration Building Suite 115
Telephone: 936.294.1836; Fax: 936.294.1834

Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.