Former Secretary of State is Commencement Speaker
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James A. Baker |
James A. Baker III, former United States secretary of state
and one of only four persons who have received the Sam Houston
Humanitarian Award, is scheduled to speak at Sam Houston State
University's May 15 commencement exercises.
Almost 1,300 students have applied for degrees to be conferred
at the 10 a.m. ceremony for the Colleges of Education and
Applied Science and Criminal Justice and at 2 p.m. for the
Colleges of Arts and Science and Business Administration.
Both sessions are scheduled for Johnson Coliseum.
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. He
recently published "The Politics of Diplomacy,"
his reflections on those years of revolution, war, and peace.
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.
Long active in American presidential politics, Baker led presidential
campaigns for presidents Ford, Reagan, and Bush over the course
of five consecutive presidential elections from 1976 to 1992.
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.
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 was the first recipient of the Sam Houston Humanitarian
Award, established in 1993 in honor of the 200th birthday
of Texas hero Sam Houston. Other recipients are Lech Walesa,
George H. W. Bush, and Thaksin Shinawatra.
Baker is presently a partner with Baker Botts and senior counselor
to The Carlyle Group, a merchant banking firm in Washington,
D.C. He is honorary chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute
for Public Policy at Rice University and serves on the boards
of Rice University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
In 1997, he was appointed the personal envoy of United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mediate direct talks between
the parties to the dispute over the Western Sahara.
In December 2003 he was named by President George W. Bush
as his personal envoy to help Iraq deal with its enormous
debt problem.
- END -
SHSU Media Contact: Frank
Krystyniak
May 4, 2004
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