U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SPEAK
AT MICHIGAN TECH COMMENCEMENT
HOUGHTON, MI--Philip Lader, U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James (Great Britain and Northern Ireland), will be the featured speaker at Michigan Technological University's spring commencement ceremonies May 23.
More than 700 students will receive degrees during the ritual that marks the end of the academic year. Michigan Tech will honor Lader with an honorary Doctor of Business and Letters degree.
A former South Carolina businessman and educator, Lader was named Ambassador to the Court of St. James on Sept. 12, 1997. Previously he had served in President Clinton's Cabinet as Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and had also been White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President. Prior to that, as Deputy Director for Management in the Office of Management and Budget, he worked closely with Vice President Gore on the Clinton Administration's "reinventing government" initiatives.
Before entering government service, Ambassador Lader had been president of Sea Pines Company (a developer of large-scale recreation communities), executive vice president of the late Sir James Goldsmith's U.S. holding company, and president of universities in South Carolina and Australia. He founded Renaissance Weekends, the family retreats for innovative leaders, in 1981.
Lader's education includes undergraduate studies at Duke University, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa; the University of Michigan, where he earned an M.A. in history; and Harvard Law School, from which he received a J.D. degree. He also completed graduate studies in law at Pembroke College and Oxford University.
The day prior to commencement, Michigan Tech will hold groundbreaking ceremonies for the new $20 million Rozsa Performing Arts Center, which, when completed in 2000, will be the largest facility of its kind in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Center has been named after major donors Ted and Lola Rozsa of Calgary, Alberta, Canada . Remaining funding came from private sources and a $5 million grant from the State of Michigan.
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05/04/98-MTN061