Fayetteville State University News April 20, 2011 U.S. Secretary of Education to Deliver Commencement Speech at FSU U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will address the more than 500 graduates during Fayetteville State University's (FSU) 144th Spring Commencement. Exercises will be held May 7 at 9 a.m. in the Crown Coliseum. The public is invited. Also in attendance will be Johnny Taylor, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) in New York. Additionally, an 18-member delegation representing institutions from China will be part of the ceremony. FSU has forged partnerships with five institutions making it the leading historically black university in the country in terms of establishing educational ties with China. Duncan was confirmed as Secretary of Education by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009. Prior to his appointment, he served as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, from June 2001 through December 2008, becoming the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country. As CEO, Duncan's mandate was to raise education standards and performance, improve teacher and principal quality, and increase learning options. In seven and a half years, he united education reformers, teachers, principals and business stakeholders behind an aggressive education reform agenda that included opening over 100 new schools, expanding after-school and summer learning programs, closing down underperforming schools, increasing early childhood and college access, dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers, and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives. Among his most significant accomplishments during his tenure as CEO, an all-time high of 66.7 percent of the district's elementary school students met or exceeded state reading standards, and their math scores also reached a record high, with 70.6 percent meeting or exceeding the state's standards. At high schools, Chicago Public School students posted gains on the ACT at three times the rate of national gains and nearly twice that of the state's. Also, the number of CPS high school students taking Advanced Placement courses tripled and the number of students passing AP classes more than doubled. Duncan has increased graduation rates and boosted the total number of college scholarships secured by CPS students to $157 million. Presiding over commencement will be FSU Chancellor James A. Anderson, the 11th chief executive officer. He began his duties on June 9, 2008. Before coming to FSU, Anderson served as the University of Albany's Vice President for Student Success and Vice Provost for Institutional Assessment and Diversity. FSU is the second-oldest public institution in North Carolina. A member of the University of North Carolina System, FSU has nearly 6,000 students and offers degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. For more information, please call (910) 672-1474. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.