View Header

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release March 1, 1996
           PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES LINDA TARR-WHELAN TO BE
                     U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TO THE 
          UNITED NATIONS COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN

President Clinton today appointed Linda Jane Zack Tarr-Whelan of Virginia as U.S. Representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Ms. Tarr-Whelan has had 25 years of public policy experience as an advocate and government official in the areas of health care, employment, economic development, education and women's issues. She has been President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Policy Alternatives since 1986. In addition, she has served as deputy assistant to the President for Women's Concerns in the Carter White House, director of government relations for the National Education Association, administrative director of the New York State Department of Labor, and director of program development for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Ms. Tarr-Whelan is a founder of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the Center for Women in Government. As a public member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nation's Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, she has participated in the UN Preparatory Committees in 1994 and 1995 and in the Vienna Regional Meeting in 1994. Ms. Tarr-Whelan has published numerous articles and is the recent recipient of the Women Executives in State Government "Breaking the Glass Ceiling" Award.

Ms. Tarr-Whelan was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. She is a nurse with a B.S.N. from the Johns Hopkins University and M.S. from the University of Maryland. She is married to Keith Tarr-Whelan, and has two children, Scott and Melinda, and a grandson, Gerhig Wade.

The U.N. Commission on the Status of Women is a sub-agency of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The U.S. Representative to the Commission represents the U.S. government with American non-governmental organizations regarding international, developmental, and other U.N. women's issues.

-30-30-30-