4/29/97

ATHENS, Ohio -- First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has accepted Ohio University's invitation to speak at one of two undergraduate commencement ceremonies June 14.

Mrs. Clinton will speak at the afternoon ceremony. "Today" show co-host Matt Lauer will speak at the morning ceremony. Both ceremonies are held in the Convocation Center.

Mrs. Clinton has visited the Athens campus twice before, during the 1992 presidential campaign and again in October 1996, when she appeared with Democratic Congressional candidate Ted Strickland during the 1996 campaign.

"We are very pleased and highly honored that Mrs. Clinton will return to Athens for one of our baccalaureate commencement ceremonies in June," Ohio University President Robert Glidden said. "She has an important message to deliver, and our graduates will remember forever the thrill of having the nation's first lady as their commencement speaker."

Glidden joined the Senior Class Council in inviting Mrs. Clinton and Lauer to speak at commencement.

As first lady, Mrs. Clinton has served as chair of the Task Force on National Health Care Reform and used the White House to showcase the performing arts, American cuisine and crafts. A longtime advocate for children and families, she is the author of the book on child rearing, It Takes a Village (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996). Her narration of the recording of the book won a Grammy Award this year for best spoken word or nonmusical album. The book spent 20 weeks on best-seller lists.

Mrs. Clinton is a graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. During her 12 years as first lady of Arkansas, Mrs. Clinton worked as a full-time partner of a law firm, chaired an education committee that set public school standards in Arkansas and founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.