IVEY TO ADDRESS MICHIGAN TECH GRADS
HOUGHTON--William J. Ivey, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and former resident of Calumet, will be the featured speaker at Michigan Tech's midyear commencement ceremonies set for Saturday, Nov. 21 at 10:30 a.m. Nearly 300 graduates will receive their diplomas during the event.
Ivey was nominated to his current post by President Clinton and was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate this past summer. Since 1994 he has served as an appointee to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and was a major contributor to the Committee's report to President Clinton entitled, "Creative America," an analysis of American cultural life.
From 1971 to 1998 Ivey was director of the Country Music Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee. Called a "mecca with a mission" by the Wall Street Journal, the Foundation is accredited by the American Association of Museums as a nonprofit education and research center. It operates the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, manages historic properties, and publishes a respected journal. As the Foundation's leader, Ivey worked to encourage the investment of public dollars to promote cultural tourism, advance arts education, and increase community resources. The Foundation has earned several Endowment grants for its excellent programs and recently broke ground for a new $35 million museum and library complex, a project Ivey guided from its inception. For his work and leadership, Ivey was honored by Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist at the 1997 Governor's Conference on the Arts, and was praised by the Tennessee Arts Commission as a community partner.
Ivey was born in Detroit in 1944 and grew up in the Upper Peninsula town of Calumet, where he graduated from high school in 1962. He received a B.A. in history from the University of Michigan in 1969 and an M.A. in folklore and ethnomusicology from Indiana University in 1969.
He is the son of the late William J. Ivey and Grace C. Ivey, who taught English at Calumet High School for 17 years and still resides in Calumet.
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11/12/98-MTN191