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Secretary of Labor to Speak at Commencement
By Blair Mullallay '10
STAFF WRITER

Elaine L. Chao, current U.S. Secretary of Labor, will serve as keynote speaker at SBC's 98th commencement ceremony on May 12, 2007. According to President Muhlenfeld, the Secretary was SBC's first choice.

Commencement speakers are chosen through student submissions, which are then submitted to and finalized by the president's office. Past commencement ceremonies have featured a wide variety of keynote speakers, possessing various backgrounds and professions. Among them was last year's keynote speaker, Ms. Judith Martin, better known as “Miss Manners.”

After immigrating to the United States from Taiwan at age 8, Chao received her degree in economics at Mount Holyoke College, before earning her M.B.A. from Harvard's Kennedy School of Business.

SBC government professor Barbara Perry believes that “[Chao] is the perfect speaker” due to her “most compelling and appealing biography that is the epitome of the American Dream.”

Perry is particularly aware of Chao's accomplishments, as she is currently serving a one-year fellowship at the University of Louisville's McConnell Center, which was established by Chao's husband, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, at his alma mater in 1991.

Before serving as the nation's 24th labor secretary, Chao worked in the U.S. Department of Transportation, eventually attaining the position of deputy secretary. Additionally, she has also served in several public service positions, includinng as the president and chief executive officer of the United Way of America and as director of the Peace Corps.

Chao's past involvement in these organizations was very significant to President Muhlenfeld, who noted that “We have a strong mission for public service,” and that Chao's experience in public service organizations “was the aspect of her career that was most impressive to our student body.”

Upon her confirmation by the U.S. Senate in January 2001, Chao became the first Asian American woman to be appointed to a President's cabinet in U.S. history, and the first Kentuckian named to the President's cabinet since 1945. Furthermore, Chao's dedication has been displayed in the Department's mission of “promoting and protecting the health, safety, retirement security, and competition of the nation's workforce.”

During her tenure, the Department has made many important changes, including “updating the white collar overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has been on the agenda of every Administration since 1977.

According to senior class President Irene Maslanik, Elaine Chao represents the values of the current senior class. Maslanik says, “Too often we are told, as young women, that it is hard to have a family and a career, or that women have to work twice as hard to be as successful as men. I think our class is an amazing group of women who aren't afraid. We are not afraid of trying to balance it all, or trying to succeed in a male-dominated field. I think many of us are looking forward to the challenge.“

With this idea in mind, Maslanik voiced that Ms. Chao fits in well because “[She] is a wonderful example of a woman who faces similar challenges every day and doesn't back down or cower in fear. We should all be so lucky to be described with those words whether we are the secretary of Labor or the best soccer mom on the street.”