94-02-22 Gov. George Allen, Brit Hume and Dr. Joycelyn Elders to Speak at U.Va. Graduation Weekend Ceremonies

GOV. GEORGE ALLEN, BRIT HUME AND DR. JOYCELYN ELDERS TO SPEAK
AT U.VA. GRADUATION WEEKEND CEREMONIES

      CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 22 -- Virginia Governor George F.
Allen, ABC News chief White House correspondent Brit Hume and U.S.
Surgeon General M. Joycelyn Elders will be featured speakers during
the University of Virginia's graduation weekend May 21-22.
      Gov. Allen, an alumnus of U.Va.'s College of Arts and Sciences
and School of Law, will deliver the commencement address at Final
Exercises on Sunday, May 22.  Following a University tradition that
each Virginia governor be invited to speak once during a term of
office, Gov. Allen will deliver his speech on the Lawn before an
anticipated crowd of 20,000 people.
      Hume, a 1965 graduate of the College, will speak the day
before at Class Valediction Exercises, a ceremony organized by
officers of the graduating class to honor students, faculty and
other members of the University community for their contributions
to the school.  
      Dr. Elders, confirmed last fall as surgeon general, will speak
at a diploma ceremony for School of Medicine graduates that follows
the graduation exercises on the Lawn.
      All three addresses are open to the public.
                                         ###
                                                                   February
21, 1994

                                                                             
      

                                   GOVERNOR GEORGE ALLEN
      George Allen, who earned a B.A. in history in 1974 and a law degree
in 1977, was inaugurated as Virginia's 67th governor in January. 
Garnering more than 57 percent of the vote in the November 1993
election, he was the first gubernatorial candidate in Virginia's history
to receive more than one million votes in a general election.

      Prior to his election as governor, Allen served in the House of
Delegates and as a U.S. Representative from the seventh Congressional
district.  As a delegate, he led a successful seven-year effort for
adopting a Constitutional amendment to direct proceeds from the sale of
confiscated drug dealer assets to local law enforcement agencies.  That
plan was passed and ratified by Virginia voters in 1990.

      As a representative, he co-authored a balanced budget amendment to
the Constitution that limited tax increases and gave the president the
power of the line-item veto.  His amendment became the official
Republican version of the legislation and was considered by the full
Congress for a vote.

      The governor has received numerous awards and distinctions from
such bipartisan organizations as the National Federation of Independent
Business, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste and the
National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

                                         BRIT HUME

      Hume, who was named chief White House correspondent after the 1988
election of President George Bush, joined the network as a national
correspondent in 1976.  He covered Capitol Hill for 11 years prior to
his White House assignment.  During that time he reported on major
legislative issues for "World News Tonight" and other ABC News
broadcasts.  He was also the principal correspondent reporting on the
Iran-Contra hearings on Capitol Hill.

      A 1965 U.Va. graduate, Hume was a consultant, reporter and writer
for the "Closeup " documentary series for three years.  He was narrator
and co-writer of "The Killing Ground," an award-winning examination of
the disposal of hazardous chemical waste that was the first television
documentary to be nominated for an Academy Award.

      Before joining ABC News, Hume was an investigative reporter for
Jack Anderson from 1969 to 1972.  During that time he broke the Dita
Beard-ITT story.  

      In 1974, he published Inside Story, a memoir of his experiences
with Jack Anderson.  He is also author of Death and the Mines, a 1971
account of the rebellion in the United Mine Workers Union and the murder
of union leader Joseph Yablonski. Hume now writes a column on personal
computers that appears in The Washington Post and is syndicated by the
Washington Post Writers Group.  

                                           OVER

                                 M. JOYCELYN ELDERS, M.D.

      Dr. Elders was nominated surgeon general by President Bill Clinton
on July 1, 1993, confirmed by the Senate Sept. 7, and sworn in Sept. 8. 
She is the first African-American and the second woman to hold the post.

      After graduating from Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark.,
she served in the U.S. Army before entering the University of Arkansas
Medical School (UAMS).  While practicing as a pediatrician, she
completed requirements for a master of science degree in biochemistry. 
In 1976, she joined UAMS as a professor of pediatrics and received board
certification as a pediatric endocrinologist in 1978.  She has written
more than 150 articles based on her studies of growth in children and
the treatment of hormone-related illnesses.

      As director of the Arkansas Department of Health from 1987 to 1993,
Dr. Elders expanded the number of early childhood screenings, the
immunization rate for two-year-olds, HIV testing and counseling services
throughout the state.

      Dr. Elders was elected president of the Association of State and
Territorial Health Officers in 1992.  She has won numerous awards
including the National Coalition of 100 Black Women's Candace Award for
Health Science and the National Governor's Association Distinguished
Service Award.


[Submitted by: Karen A. Castle  (kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu)
               Tue, 22 Feb 94 09:23:38 EST]