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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release June 9, 2000

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES MARIA LOMBARDO TO THE CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATION

The President today announced his intent to appoint Maria Lombardo as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation.

Dr. Maria Lombardo, of Rockville, Maryland, has been Director of Education for the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) for the past nineteen years. She also served on the Board of Trustees of the American University of Rome and has worked with universities in Italy and the US including John Cabot University. Additionally, Dr. Lombardo has conducted student exchanges, medical, legal, women's and Italian language conferences, parent and teacher training with competitive grants she obtained from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Information Agency, Women's Educational Equity Act, the White House Conference on Aging, and private companies. She raises funds and administers NIAF's extensive national and international scholarship and grant program that benefits needy, academically worthy students, who provide community service. Amongst her publications are A Resource Guide for Study in Italy and Scholarship Opportunities.

Dr. Lombardo, a native of Italy, is the daughter of a Nazi slave labor camp survivor, and has conducted the program "The Holocaust in Southern Europe," in 20 U.S. cities from a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Jewish organizations, the Italian Government and NIAF. She is publishing a book, A Camp Without Walls, about her father and Italy's role during WWII through Italy/Italy magazine

Dr. Lombardo received a B.S from Bridgewater State College, a Master's from Northeastern University and a Doctorate in Education from Boston University.

The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation was created to encourage and support research, study and labor, designed to produce new discoveries in all fields of endeavor for the benefit of humankind. The Board of Trustees awards fellowships to outstanding individuals, known as Columbus Scholars, to encourage such new discoveries. The Board has established a three-tiered Frontiers of Discovery--Past, Present and Future program. Fellowships of $100,000 are awarded in the Past and Present programs, and the Future program supports and encourages innovations by America's youth.

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