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Nov. 25, 2002

MSU ANNOUNCES FALL 2002 COMMENCEMENT SPEAKERS

Contact: Kristin Anderson, University Relations, (517) 353-8819 or ander284@msu.edu

11/25/2002

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Three individuals who have impacted society through business, civil and human rights, and democratic reform on state, national and international levels, will speak at commencement ceremonies at Michigan State University Friday, Dec. 6, and Saturday, Dec. 7. All ceremonies will be held at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center.

Commencement speakers Eli Broad, a leader in the global financial market and chairperson of AIG SunAmerica Inc.; Eleanor M. Josaitis, chief executive officer of Focus: HOPE, a Detroit civil and human rights organization; and Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN's global development network, will receive honorary degrees at the ceremonies.

Broad, who will speak at the 10 a.m. undergraduate ceremony on Saturday, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities. Broad, a 1954 honors accounting graduate from MSU, and his wife, Edythe, are avid supporters of the arts and education, and established The Broad Foundation in 1999 to improve K-12 student achievement and The Broad Art Foundation in 1984.

The student speaker at this ceremony is Christine Marie Altimore of Midland. She is the daughter of William Altimore of Owosso and Sharon Alderman of Midland. She is a supply chain management major in The Eli Broad College of Business.

Students in the colleges of Arts and Letters, Education, Human Ecology, James Madison, Social Science and The Eli Broad College of Business will attend this ceremony.

Josaitis, who will speak at the 2 p.m. undergraduate ceremony on Saturday, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities. She and Father William T. Cunningham founded Focus: HOPE in the aftermath of the 1967 Detroit riots, with the goal of eliminating racism, poverty and injustice.

The student speaker at this ceremony is Sharone R. Senk of West Bloomfield, daughter of Jonathan and Mickey Firsht. She is an advertising major in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.

Students from the colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Communication Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Natural Science and Nursing will attend this ceremony.

Brown, who will speak at the 7 p.m. advanced degree ceremony on Friday, will receive an honorary doctor of humanities at the ceremony. During his tenure at the UNDP, he has overseen comprehensive reform in 166 countries that has been widely recognized as making UNDP more focused, efficient and effective.

Biographies of the speakers follow:

ELI BROAD

Eli Broad, the son of Lithuanian immigrants who settled in Detroit, and his wife, Edythe, live in Los Angeles. They continue to support, through time and resources, a variety of community initiatives, arts organizations and educational institutions, including Michigan State University.

Chairman of AIG SunAmerica Inc., a leading financial services company specializing in retirement savings and investment products and services, Broad also sits on the board of SunAmerica's parent company, American International Group (AIG). He founded two multibillion-dollar Fortune 500 companies, Sun America and KB Home (formerly Kaufman and Broad Home Corp.).

In 1968 his business achievements brought him recognition as an Outstanding Alumni Award recipient by the MSU College of Business, and in 2002 he received an MSU Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award.

In 1991 Broad made the largest-ever contribution to a public business school. His $20 million gift to endow The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad School of Management, both renamed in his honor, was designed to help MSU's new master's of business administration program emerge as one of the nation's top graduate management programs. In 1998 he made a new commitment of nearly $2 million to expand the program's emphasis on information technology, and in 2002 he made a commitment of $475,000 to fund MBA student scholarships.

The Broad Foundation, established in 1999, serves to improve K-12 education by investing in new ideas and innovative leadership in governance, management and labor relations in the nation's largest urban school systems. It has made more than 40 major grants and launched three flagship initiatives: The Broad Prize for Urban Education, The Broad Center for Superintendents and The Broad Institute for School Boards.

The Broad Art Foundation, established in 1984, serves as an active "lending library" of its extensive collections to museums and university galleries throughout the world.

MARK MALLOCH BROWN

Mark Malloch Brown, who has served in his position as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 1999, also serves as chairperson of the United Nations Development Group, a committee of the heads of all United Nations (UN) funds, programs and departments working on development issues.

His comprehensive reform efforts include a major push to expand UN support to developing countries in areas such as democratic governance and using information and communications technology to support development.

Malloch Brown is also leading the UN system in developing a strategy to help support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals - eight time-bound development targets with the overarching goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015, which were agreed to by world leaders at the UN Millennium Summit of September 2000.

From 1994 to 1999 he served at the World Bank as vice president for external affairs and UN affairs. From 1986 to 1994 he was a lead partner in an international consulting firm, where he advised governments, political leaders and corporations.

From 1979 to 1983 he worked for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. As founder of the Economist Development Report, he served as its editor from 1983 to 1986, after working as a political correspondent with the Economist magazine from 1977 to 1979.

A British citizen, Malloch Brown received an honors degree in history from Magdalene College, Cambridge University and a master's degree in political science from the University of Michigan. He is married and the father of four children.

ELEANOR M. JOSAITIS

Eleanor M. Josaitis has made important contributions to public awareness of hunger and malnutrition, to the formulation of national policy and responsible legislation, and to effective program management.

Providing leadership and advocacy since 1971 for Focus: HOPE's food program for mothers, children and senior citizens, Josaitis has seen Focus: HOPE grow to more than 600 employees supported by 51,000 volunteers. She chaired the Commodity Supplemental Food Program Steering Committee and hosted the White House Conference on Aging.

She has also played a major role in the development of the organization's nationally recognized "Centers of Opportunity" education and training programs, including First Step, FAST TRACK, the Machinist Training Institute, the Center for Advanced Technologies and the Information Technologies Center. Focus: HOPE also includes a community arts program, a center for children with preschool education, infant and toddler care and a before/after school program.

She serves on numerous boards and committees, including the Arab- American and Chaldean Council Advisory Board, the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday Advisory Board, the Economic Club of Detroit, the Karmanos Cancer Institute, Loyola High School and Covenant House.

In 2002 Josaitis was named one of the100 Most Influential Women by Crain's Detroit Business. She also was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. She is the first woman to receive the Boy Scouts of America's "Good Scout" Award.

Other awards and honors include the Detroit National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Presidential Award, the National Council of Negro Women's Achiever Award, the Anti-Defamation League's Women of Achievement Award, Arab American Institute Foundation's Kahil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award and the National Council of Women of the United States Inc.'s Woman of Conscience Award.

She and her husband, Donald, live in Detroit. The couple has five children.