A Lesson in Leadership
with
The Honorable Margaret Spellings,
United States Secretary of Education,
and
The Honorable Inez Tenenbaum,
South Carolina Superintendent of Education

When: 7:00 p.m, Thursday, February 16     
Where: BellSouth Auditorium, 2nd Floor BellSouth Building, Huger Street
Topic: Staying Competitive—National and South Carolina Perspectives

The public is invited to attend the first 2006 Lesson in Leadership event, presented by Columbia College. Spellings and Tenenbaum will speak about the role of education in keeping both the United States and South Carolina competitive in the global market.

Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education
On January 20, 2005, the United States Senate confirmed Margaret Spellings as the 8th U.S. Secretary of Education.

During President George W. Bush's first term, Spellings served as assistant to the president for domestic policy where she helped craft education policies, including the No Child Left Behind Act. She was also responsible for the development and implementation of White House policy on immigration, health, labor, transportation, justice, housing, and other elements of President Bush's domestic agenda.

Prior to her White House appointment, Spellings worked for six years as Governor George W. Bush's Senior Advisor with responsibility for developing and implementing the Governor's education policy. Her work included the Texas Reading Initiative, the Student Success Initiative to eliminate social promotion, and the nation's strongest school assessment and accountability system. She also made recommendations to the Governor for key gubernatorial appointments. Previously, Spellings served as associate executive director of the Texas Association of School Boards.

Born in Michigan, Spellings moved with her family at a young age to Houston, Texas, where she attended public schools. She graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor's degree in political science.

As the mother of two daughters, one school-age and one college-age, Spellings has a special understanding of the issues facing parents and students today. Her daughter Mary is a freshman in college, and her daughter Grace attends a public middle school. Spellings is the first mother of school children to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education.

Inez Tenenbaum, S.C. Superintendent of Education
Inez Tenenbaum is in her second term of office as South Carolina's fifteenth State Superintendent of Education.  
 
Throughout her career, Tenenbaum has been an energetic and determined advocate for children. A former schoolteacher and an attorney, she is committed to raising the quality of education in South Carolina through comprehensive and sustained reform.  Her priorities include raising academic standards through accountability, making sure every child starts school ready to learn, improving the quality of the state’s principals and teachers, ensuring that schools are safe and healthy places for learning, and increasing the support of parents and communities in public schools.
 
Tenenbaum’s accomplishments include leading the successful effort to provide more than $750 million for school construction without raising taxes, reducing class size, raising teachers’ salaries, and providing more guidance counselors and resource officers for our schools. She created the first-ever School Leadership Executive Institute to train our principals and superintendents and created the Office of Early Childhood Education.   She also has been recognized for her work by a number of education advocacy and community organizations.
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Columbia College, founded in 1854, is a private liberal arts women's college with a coeducational Evening College and Graduate School. The College has been ranked for 11 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top comprehensive undergraduate colleges in the South. Enrollment is 1500 students from 23 states and 20 countries.

CONTACT:
Rebecca B. Munnerlyn
Executive Director of Public Relations
Columbia College
1301 Columbia College Drive
Columbia, SC 29203
803.786.3298 voice
803.786.3170 fax
www.columbiacollegesc.edu