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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release December 17, 1999

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES PAUL LECLERC TO THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON THE

ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

The President today announced his intent to appoint Paul LeClerc as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

Dr. Paul LeClerc, of New York City, New York, is President and Chief Executive Officer of The New York Public Library. Dr. LeClerc was a member of the faculty at Union College in Schenectady, New York from 1966-79, and chaired the Department of Modern Languages and the Division of Humanities. In 1979 he joined the central administration of The City University of New York and served as University Dean for Academic Affairs and Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. In 1984 he became Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs of Baruch College, and in 1988 was appointed President of Hunter College. Dr. LeClerc became President and CEO of The New York Public Library in December 1993. Dr. LeClerc is author and co-editor of five scholarly volumes on writers of the French Enlightenment and his contributions to French culture earned him the Order of the Academic Palms (Officier) in 1989 and the French Legion of Honor (Chevalier) in 1996. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from several U.S. universities and will receive an honorary doctorate for the University of Paris III-La Nouvelle Sorbonne in October 2000. He has served on several of non-profit boards and is presently a trustee of a number of organizations including the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the National Book Foundation, the Council of Libraries and Information Resources, the Maison Francaise of Columbia University and the Papers of Benjamin Franklin (at Yale University).

Dr. LeClerc graduated from the College of Holy Cross in 1963, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, and received his Ph.D. in French literature with distinction at Columbia University.

The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities was established in order to advise the President, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities concerning ways to promote private sector support for the arts and the humanities, especially at the state and local level.

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