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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release February 19, 1999

                 PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES TEN MEMBERS 
         TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION

The President today announced his intent to appoint Valerie J. Bradley, Joyce A. Keller, John F. Kennedy, Jr., K. Charlie Lakin, T. J. Monroe, Elizabeth C. Pittinger, Michael L. Remus, Jacquelyn B. Victorian, Barbara Y. Wheeler, and Sheryl White-Scott as members of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation (PCMR). Ms. Bradley will continue to serve in her capacity as Chair.

Ms. Valerie J. Bradley, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is President of Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), a non-profit organization. She has worked in the field of mental retardation for over 25 years as a researcher, policy analyst, evaluator, advocate and author. As Chief Executive Officer of HSRI, Ms. Bradley is responsible for the general management of the organization, quality control, employee recruitment, fiscal affairs, and public relations. Ms. Bradley has also directed a wide range of Federal grants and contracts in the areas of family support, quality assurance, and deinstitutionalization. Ms. Bradley holds a B.A. from Occidental College and an M.A. from Rutgers University.

Ms. Joyce A. Keller, of Southfield, Michigan, is the Executive Director of JARC, a Jewish association for residential care for persons with developmental disabilities. Previously, she was a Special Services Director for developmental disabilities for Adult Service Centers, Inc., of Detroit and a Special Education Teacher at the elementary and secondary level. Ms. Keller holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan and an M.A. from the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University.

Mr. John F. Kennedy, Jr., of New York City, New York, is the founder and President of Reaching Up, a non-profit organization that supports the higher education and career development of direct care workers in the disability field. Previously, he served for several years as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Robin Hood Foundation, as well as an Associate Trustee of the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., Foundation. Mr. Kennedy holds a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from New York University Law School.

Dr. Charlie Lakin, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Community Living Integration at the University of Minnesota. He has been a Senior Research Associate at the University of Minnesota since 1980. He is a member of the American Association on Mental Retardation and the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps. Dr. Lakin holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Mr. T.J. Monroe, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of two self-advocates appointed to the President's Committee on Mental Retardation. Mr. Monroe is a nationally recognized self-advocate and speaker. He also serves as a consultant to self-advocacy agencies and the government on human rights policies while also advising others in self-advocacy organizing and development. He is also a member of the American Association on Mental Retardation, the Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered Advisory Committee, and an advisor to the People First of Hamilton County.

Ms. Elizabeth C. Pittinger, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an adjunct faculty member of Community College, Allegheny County and a consultant for civil rights, mental retardation and police training. Ms. Pittinger serves as the legally appointed guardian of ten incapacitated people. She is a Commissioner with the City of Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. Ms. Pittinger holds a B.A. from Marywood College, an M.P.A. from Carnegie Mellon University, and is a graduate of the Pittsburgh Citizens Police Academy.

Mr. Michael L. Remus, of Lawrence, Kansas, is the Executive Director of the Arc of Tennessee, which advocates for the enhanced quality of life for children and adults with mental retardation and other disabilities through research, advocacy and education. Mr. Remus was formerly the Director of Special Education for the State of Kansas, is a lifelong advocate for persons with disabilities, and is the father of two grown sons with disabilities. He has served as Adjunct Faculty at Wayne State College, teaching education graduate courses dealing with the integration of students with disabilities and Introduction to Special and Secondary Education. He is immediate past President of the Arc-US.

Ms. Jacquelyn B. Victorian, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the Executive Director of Independent Living, Inc., a community-based residential agency that provides supported living services to 50 individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. She is a member of the Community and Family Support Task Force Committee on Supported Living, as well as the Louisiana Governor's Ombudsman Task Force on Developmental Disabilities. Ms. Victorian holds a Masters degree in Social Work.

Dr. Barbara Y. Wheeler, of Los Angeles, California, is Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. She also serves as Director of Training in Nursing at the University Affiliated Program at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, Project Director of the California Personal Assistance Services Project and the Self-Advocacy Project and as an Evaluation Consultant to the Black Infant Health Programs in the California Department of Health Services. Dr. Wheeler holds a B.S. from the University of California at San Francisco, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Sheryl White-Scott, of New York City, New York, is the Director of Adult Health Services at the Westchester Institute for Human Development and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at New York Medical College. She is a Diplomat to the American Board of Internal Medicine. She is also a member of the American College of Physicians and the American Association on Mental Retardation.

The Committee advises President Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala on programs and services relating to persons with mental retardation.

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