THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

President Clinton Appoints 1995-96 White House Fellows

President Clinton today appointed 14 men and women as 1995-96 White House Fellows, including a Minnesota high school teacher, an Arkansas community banker and a Philadelphia prosecutor.

The non-partisan award is based on academic, professional and civic achievement and the class includes nine men and five women from across the country, all working to make a difference in their communities.

The White House Fellows program places these exceptionally talented men and women in full-time paid positions for a year at the White House and cabinet-level agencies. It includes an education program of regular meetings with senior government officials, top business exeuctives, journalists and other leaders. The year begins Sept. 1.

The program's alumni include HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, CNN President Tom Johnson, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Tenneco CEO Dana Mead, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell.

At a recent White House ceremony celebrating the program's 30th anniversary, the President said:

"One reason the White House Fellows program has worked so well is that it is one of the few things in this intensely partisan town that we've managed to make truly bipartisan. If I could turn it into a virus, I would put it into a shot and give it to everybody who is now working in Washington, D.C."

The nine men and five women appointed today by the President are from the states of Pennsylvania, California, New York, New Mexico, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas, Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota and Arkansas. The 1995-96 White House Fellows are:

• David M. Albala, 39, Chicago, Ill.; associate professor of urology at Loyola University and founder of an inner-city cancer screening program.
• David K. (Bob) Edmonds, 38, Charlotte, N.C.; Lieutenant Colonel, 95th Fighter Squadron, U.S. Air Force and lay minister and Sunday school teacher.
• James J. Eisenhower III, 39, Philadelphia, Pa.; attorney with the firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhodes and chief counsel to the Mayor's Commission on Police/Community Relations.
• Michael E. Hatchett, 29, Kokomo, Ind.; attorney with the firm of Sullivan and Cromwell and member of Second Circuit Task Force on Gender Race and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts.
• David E. Jones, 33, Sacramento, Calif.; attorney with Legal Services of Northern California, Inc. and board member of the Sacramaneto Mutual Housing Association.
• Teresa Leger de Fernandez, 35, Sante Fe, N.M.; attorney with the firm of Nordhaus, Haltom, Taylor and Frye, specializing in the representation of Native American tribes.
• Robert W. Leland, 32, Albuquerque, N.M.; senior staff member at Sandia National Laboratories and volunteer math and science public school teacher.
• Peter Lawrence Levin, 33, Worcester, Mass.; associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and founder of a community recycling program.
• Cynthia McCaffrey, 29, Austin, Texas,; graduate student at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and founder of school in Malawi for vulnerable children.
• Tanya E. Oubre, 30, Los Angeles, Calif.; attorney with Southern California Edison Company and children's dance teacher.
• Kent Pekel, 27, Bloomington, Minn.; social studies teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School and coordinator of a summer teacher program in Shanghai, China.
• Anthony D. So, 34, Philadelphia, Pa.; medical research associate, American College of Physicians and principal organizer of Asian American Health Care Network.

Julia C. Vindasius, 33, Pine Bluff, Ark.; executive director of the Good Faith Fund and board member of Pine Bluff Downtown Development Organization.

• Kinney Zalesne, 29, Philadelphia, Pa.; assistant district attorney and cantor of the Society Hill Synagogue.