Contacts: Bob Wright, (214) 768-7650
[email protected]
Patti LaSalle, (214) 768-7660
[email protected]
February 23, 2000
U.S. SENATOR KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON TO GIVE SMU COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
DALLAS (SMU) ---- United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, will give the address May 20 at Southern Methodist University's 85th annual commencement ceremony.
"As a United States Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison has taken the lead on important national and international issues as well as those that are essential to the progress of Texas. She has made history as the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate," says SMU President R. Gerald Turner. "She brings an important perspective to our graduating class as they set their own aspirations for careers, citizenship, and service. We are honored that she will be our Commencement speaker."
Sen. Hutchison is a deputy majority whip, a key member of the Republican leadership in the Senate. She serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense and military construction subcommittee and the Senate Commerce Committee, where she chairs the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine. As subcommittee chair, she drafted and passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 1998, which helps U.S. ships, ports and shippers to better compete internationally. And she successfully worked to ensure the continued viability of Amtrak's Texas Eagle.
Sen. Hutchison spearheaded the effort to pass legislation ensuring that state funds from tobacco settlements are protected from seizure by the federal government, as well as a bill strengthening health-care benefits for veterans and military retirees. She sponsored and passed the federal anti-stalking bill, which makes stalking across state lines a crime, and Homemaker IRA legislation that significantly expanded retirement opportunities for stay-at-home spouses. She devised the current federal welfare funding formulas that cleared the way for landmark welfare reform legislation in 1996.
She currently serves as chair of the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She is co-chair of the Congressional Oil and Gas Caucus and is a U.S. delegate to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission.
Sen. Hutchison grew up in La Marque, Texas, and graduated from the University of Texas and the UT School of Law. She first became involved in politics while covering the Texas Legislature as a reporter for KPRC-TV in Houston. She later became press secretary to fellow Texan Anne Armstrong, vice chair of the Republican National Committee. She was twice elected to the Texas House of Representatives, and in 1990 she was elected Texas State Treasurer. Sen. Hutchison was elected to the U.S. Senate on June 5, 1993 replacing Sen. Lloyd Bentsen who vacated his position to become Secretary of the Treasury. She was elected again in 1994 to begin her first full 6-year term. The senator lives in Dallas with her husband, Ray, a former colleague from the Texas House. He is a partner in the law firm of Vinson and Elkins.
The universitywide commencement ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 20, in Moody Coliseum. SMU will award about 1,800 undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Diplomas will be presented at individual school or departmental ceremonies throughout the day.
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