News release
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Contact: Rene Abadie
Date: 12/6/05
 
Sally ClausenClick on image for publication quality photo 
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA SYSTEM PRESIDENT SALLY CLAUSEN TO ADDRESS SOUTHEASTERN GRADUATES
        HAMMOND – University of Louisiana System President Sally Clausen will return “home” to Southeastern Louisiana University to deliver the keynote address at the university’s winter commencement on Saturday, Dec. 17.
        Southeastern will confer associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees on approximately 1,100 students at the 10 a.m. ceremony in the University Center.
        The commencement ceremony will feature the introduction of this year’s class of “Golden Graduates,” members of the Class of 1955 and previous years, who will lead the new graduates into the University Center dressed in golden academic regalia. The Golden Graduate tradition was initiated in the December 1998 commencement ceremony. 
        Clausen, who served as the 12th president of Southeastern from 1995 to her appointment in 2001 as head of the UL System, leads the state’s largest higher education system with eight universities, more than 85,000 students and operating budgets totaling nearly $600 million. Southeastern is a member of the UL System.
        Recognized nationally as a dynamic and effective leader in education, she previously served as Louisiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education and Secretary of Education of the Office of the Governor. She holds a doctorate in school administration and management from Louisiana State University and last year was inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction.
        Clausen is active on the national level, serving as vice chair of the National Association of University System Heads (NASH), a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), the Southern Regional Education Board and the Commission for Graduation Rate Outcomes, a joint venture involving AASCU, NASH, and The Education Trust. She was described recently by “Inside Higher Ed” magazine as “one of the most entrepreneurial college presidents in the nation.”