THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release April 13, 1993

HACKNEY, SHAPIRO NAMED TO NEH

(Washington, DC) The President announced his intention to nominate Sheldon Hackney to be Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities today. He will also name Michael Shapiro to be the Endowment's General Counsel.

"The National Endowment for the Humanities plays a vital role in encouraging and enhancing a better understanding of our country's rich heritage," said the President. "Doing just that has been the work of Sheldon Hackney's life. Likewise, Michael Shapiro has demonstrated true ability in the management of cultural institutions. I am confident that the NEH will flourish in their hands."

Hackney is the President of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also a Professor of History. He has been at Penn since 1981, prior to which he served as president of Tulane University for five years. He was on the faculty of Princeton University for a decade. A native of Alabama, he has written several works about his home region, including "Populism to Progressivism in Alabama", "Southern Violence", "Origins of the New South in Retrospect", and "The South as a Counter Culture". Hackney has also served on a number of boards, including those of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Educational Testing Services, and The American Council on Education. He holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

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April 12, 1993
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Michael Shapiro is a senior attorney with the Washington, DC law firm of Weil, Goshal & Manges, where he counsels a variety of museums, international art auction houses, non-profit organizations, and corporations. He also has significant academic and arts management experience. From 1980-88, he was an Associate Professor of American Civilization at the George Washington University, and Director of George Washington's Graduate Program in Museum Studies. Prior to that, he was Chief of the State of Delaware's Bureau of Museums and Historic Sites, and Director of the American Swedish Historical Museum. Shapiro earned his bachelors degree from Syracuse University, masters and doctoral degrees in American Civilization from Brown University, and a J.D. from the George Washington University.

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