THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
President Clinton Appoints 1996-97 White House Fellows
President Clinton today awarded prestigious White House Fellowships to 10 women and 8 men. The new class, which includes a geologist, a firefighter, and a best-selling author, will be the first ever comprised mostly of women.
"For the first time in the program's 32-year history, most of the 'fellows' aren't," says Fellowship Director Brooke Shearer.
A complete list of the 1996-97 Fellows, including hometowns, follows.
White House Fellows spend a year working as special assistants to senior officials in the White House and Cabinet agencies. They also take part in an education program of off-the-record meetings with top national leaders -- Supreme Court justices, Members of Congress, Fortune 500 executives, prominent journalists and others. The non-partisan program was created in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and John Gardner, his health, education and welfare secretary who later founded Common Cause.
Among those who served as White House Fellows in the program's early years are HUD secretary Henry Cisneros, CNN president Tom Johnson, Pulitzer prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and retired general Colin Powell.
President Clinton has said that the White House Fellowship program has "from its infancy invigorated the government with youthful energy and created a spirit of service among those who would become leaders of the future."
The eighteen Fellows appointed by the President today represent 13 states and the District of Columbia. The 1996-97 White House Fellows are:
Brenda G. Berkman, 44, Brooklyn, New York; Lieutenant, New York City Fire Department.
Audrey Choi, 28, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Staff Reporter, The Wall Street Journal.
Kimberly R. Cornett, 25, Arnold, Maryland; Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia.
Linda Eddleman, 33, Falls Church, Virginia; an attorney with Marriott International, Inc. and founder of Alianza Escolar, which pairs Hispanic children and mentors.
Stephanie L. Ferguson, 33, Richmond, Virginia; research associate at the Virginia Health Policy Center and a consultant to the Richmond Urban Primary Care Initiative.
Susan D. Fink, 37, Norfolk, Virginia; Lieutenant Commander and protocol officer to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, U.S. Navy, planned and flew combat logistics operations during Operation Desert Storm.
Peter S. Fiske, 29, San Carlos, California; post-doctoral research associate at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics.
Lewis P. Long, 30, District of Columbia; a senior consultant with Gemini Consulting and a member of the Greater Washington Urban League Advisory Board.
Mark J. Mathabane, 35, Kernersville, North Carolina; author and lecturer, whose best-selling writings include Kaffir Boy and Kaffir Boy in America.
Kevin Monroe, 34, Carter Lake, Iowa; senior audit manager with the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP, and elected member of the Council Bluffs, Iowa Board of Education.
David A. Moore, 38, Clifton, Virginia; Major and POW/MIA family liaison and support officer, U.S. Air Force.
Robert C. Orr, 32, Princeton, New Jersey; a policy analyst at the International Peace Academy and a Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Bonnie J. Ryan, 46, Lake in the Hills, Illinois; Government and Trade Relations Specialist for VITA Health Care, Inc.
Stefanie J. Sanford, 29, Austin, Texas, Chief of the Juvenile Crime Intervention Division of the State of Texas Office of the Attorney General.
Elisabeth A. Stock, 27, District of Columbia; a rural transportation specialist at the World Bank.
Loree K. Sutton, 36, Leavenworth, Kansas; Major, a psychiatrist enrolled at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Reginald M. Turner, 36, Detroit, Michigan; an attorney with the firm of Sachs, Waldman, O?Hare, Helveston, Bogas & McIntosh.
John (Randy) Wood, 35, Tierra Verde, Florida; Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy, is a crisis action planner for the United States Central Command.
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