MEDIA CONTACT: Kristine M. McGrath
561-297-1168, kmcgrath@fau.edu

Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder to Speak at FAU
Discussion will focus on women's issues, women in politics

BOCA RATON, FL (December 7, 2005) - Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder will speak on Friday, December 9 at 5 p.m. in the College of Business, Room 120 on FAU's Boca Raton campus. Schroeder's lecture, sponsored by FIRE/NOW, Planned Parenthood, FAU's chapter of the College Democrats and the Women's Studies department at FAU, will focus on women's issues and women in politics.

The mother of two young children at the time she was elected to the House, Schroeder went on to serve 12 terms. During her tenure in the House, she became the dean of Congressional Women, co-chaired the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues and served on the House Judiciary Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service Committee. As chair of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families from 1991 to 1993, Schroeder guided the Family and Medical Leave Act and the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act to enactment in 1993, a fitting legislative achievement for her lifetime of work on behalf of women's and family issues. She was also active on many military issues, expediting the National Security Committee's vote to allow women to fly combat missions in 1991 and working to improve the situation of military families through passage of her Military Family Act in 1985.

Schroeder left Congress undefeated in 1996. For a brief period of time in 1986, she considered running for President but withdrew for lack of funds despite the fact that she ranked third in a Time magazine poll. Currently, the former congresswoman is president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the national trade organization of the U.S. book publishing industry, a post she assumed on June 1, 1997.

In addition to heading AAP, Schroeder also leads New Century/New Solutions, an out-of-the-box think tank, for the Institute for Civil Society in Newton, Massachusetts and serves on the Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors and the American Bar Association's Center for Human Rights Executive Committee. She also serves on various advisory committees dealing with literacy and issues affecting children and women.

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