(COLUMBIA, SC) Former First Lady Barbara Bush will serve as the College's 2005 Commencement speaker on Saturday, April 30, at the Township Auditorium.

Bush previously visited Columbia College in 1997 for the opening of the Barbara Bush Center for Science and Technology, named in her honor at the request of donors Robert and Janice Suber McNair '59 of Houston.

A native of Rye, New York, Bush attended Ashley Hall in Charleston, S.C., and Smith College. She married George Herbert Bush in 1945 and had six children, one of whom died at the age of four from leukemia, an experience that left her and her husband with a lifelong compassion for others.

During her husband’s career in public service, Bush was known for her friendly, forthright manner and keen wit. The promotion of literacy was her special cause. As First Lady, she helped develop the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, of which she is currently honorary chair.

A strong advocate of volunteerism, she has helped hundreds of causes--including the homeless, AIDS, the elderly, and school volunteer programs. She currently serves as an ambassador-at-large for AmeriCares, a member of the Mayo Clinic Foundation Board, and co-chair, with her husband, of C-Change, an organization whose goal is to fight cancer.

Bush is the author of four books, Millie's Book and C. Fred's Story, the profits of which benefited the literacy cause; her best-selling autobiography, Barbara Bush: A Memoir, which stresses the importance of family, faith, and friends; and Reflections, which documents her life after the White House.