NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/24/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco and Chief of Staff James S. Clarke, Ph.D., will be the featured speakers at Northwestern State University's Spring Commencement Exercises Friday, May 5.

Ceremonies for graduates from the College of Education, College of Liberal Arts, College of Nursing and the Graduate School will be at 10 a.m. Graduates from the College of Business, the Louisiana Scholars' College, College of Science and Technology and University College will receive diplomas at 3 p.m.

Blanco will be the speaker at one ceremony and Clarke will address the other. The schedule has not been finalized.

A second diploma will be awarded to graduates from the Class of 1956 at the 3 p.m. ceremony.

Blanco was elected governor in 2003 and in January 2004 she became the first woman in history to serve as Louisiana's highest-ranking elected official.

Prior to being elected governor, Blanco served in public office for two decades as lieutenant governor, a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and as a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission.

In 1984, she was the first woman ever elected to serve the people of Lafayette in the Legislature. During her second term in the legislature, she was elected to the Public Service Commission, the first woman chosen to serve on that body. In 1993-94, she was the first woman to chair the Commission.

Blanco was elected lieutenant governor in 1995 and was reelected in 1999 with 80 percent of the vote.

As lieutenant governor, she directly supervised the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and spearheaded unprecedented expansion of tourism and travel-related economic development in the state. Tourism increased by 41 percent under her leadership, resulting in the creation of 121,000 new jobs and a $2.5 billion increase in the impact of tourism on the state economy.

A native of Iberia Parish and a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Blanco served as a public school teacher in Breaux Bridge before entering government and politics. She has been married to Raymond Blanco since 1964, and they are the parents of six children and have eight grandchildren.

Clarke was born in Portland, Ore., and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, earning a baccalaureate degree in history. In 1975, he moved to Baton Rouge to pursue a master's degree from LSU's College of Education. Clarke also earned his Ph.D. at LSU.

In 1977, Clarke began working at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he spent the next 20 years holding positions including dean of Student Personnel and dean of Enrollment Management.

Clarke joined the Louisiana Board of Regents in 1997, spending the next eight years in a number of positions including Deputy Commissioner for Academic and Student Affairs. He was instrumental in developing the current Master Plan for Postsecondary Education, and helping to forge a number of cooperative endeavors with BESE and the Department of Education. In 2002, Dr. Clarke spent 10 months in a dual role serving as Acting Chancellor of the 42-campus Louisiana Technical College in addition to his Regents' responsibilities.

Clarke coordinated Blanco's transition team after her election as governor.
He oversaw the Governor's Health Care Summit and assisted in the coordination of her Solutions to Poverty Summit. Last September, as a result of organizational changes necessitated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Clarke joined Blanco's administration as chief of staff.

He has been married for 28 years to his wife Sandra and has two children, Jessica and Michelle.

Main Menu