{"74341":{"#nid":"74341","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Celebrates 241st Commencement","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EApproximately\n2,000 undergraduate and graduate students will graduate at Georgia Tech\u2019s 241st\ncommencement at the Georgia Dome on Saturday, December 17, 2011.\u0026nbsp; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will address the\ndoctoral and master\u2019s ceremony at 9 a.m., while U.S. Representative\nJohn Lewis will address the undergraduates at 2 p.m.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EReed was\ninaugurated as the 59th mayor Atlanta on January 4, 2010. Since taking office,\nReed has hired more than 200 police officers, improved fire-rescue response\ntimes, reopened all of the city\u2019s recreation centers, and improved the service\ndelivery of city departments such as Sanitation and Public Works. During his\nfirst year in office, he increased the city\u2019s reserves from $7.4 million to $56\nmillion and initiated a series of reforms to address the city\u2019s unfunded\npension fund liability.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPrior to his\nelection, Reed established a track record of leadership during his 11 years as\na member of the Georgia General Assembly. He was first elected in 1998 as a state\nrepresentative and served two terms. From 2002-2009, he served in the Georgia\nSenate, where he was vice chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs an\nundergraduate member of Howard University\u2019s Board of Trustees, Reed created a\nfundraising program that has contributed more than $10 million to the school\u2019s\nendowment since its inception. He was appointed Howard University\u2019s youngest general\ntrustee in 2002 and remains a member of the Board of Trustees.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChairman of\nthe Transportation and Communications Committee of the U.S. Conference of\nMayors, Reed also serves as chairman of the Regional Transit Committee of the\nAtlanta Regional Commission. He is a member of the Leadership Georgia Class of\n2000 and Leadership Atlanta Class of 1998, and was named to the Aspen\nInstitute-Rodel Fellowship Class of 2007. Reed is also a former board member of\nboth the National Black Arts Festival and Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EReed grew up in\nthe Cascade community of Atlanta, where he attended Utoy Springs Elementary\nSchool and Westwood High School (now Westlake High School). He earned a\nbachelor\u2019s degree and a law degree from Howard University; he also received an\nhonorary Doctor of Laws degree from his alma mater last March. Reed is a former\npartner of Holland and Knight LLP, an international law firm with offices in\nAtlanta.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOften referred\nto as\u0026nbsp; \u201cone of the most courageous persons the civil rights movement ever\nproduced,\u201d Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights, securing\ncivil liberties and building what he calls \u201cThe Beloved Community\u201d in\nAmerica.\u0026nbsp;His dedication to the highest ethical standards and moral\nprinciples has won him the admiration of many of his colleagues on both sides\nof the aisle in the United States Congress.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELewis was born\nthe son of sharecroppers on February 21, 1940, outside of Troy,\nAlabama.\u0026nbsp;He grew up on his family\u2019s farm and attended segregated public schools\nin Pike County, Alabama.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs a student\nat American Baptist College, Lewis organized sit-in demonstrations at segregated\nlunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.\u0026nbsp;In 1961, he volunteered to\nparticipate in the freedom rides, which challenged segregation at interstate\nbus terminals across the South. Lewis risked his life on those rides many times\nby simply sitting in seats reserved for white patrons.\u0026nbsp;He was also beaten\nseverely by angry mobs and arrested by police for challenging the injustice of\nJim Crow segregation in the South.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EDuring the\nheight of the movement, Lewis helped form and was named chairman of the Student\nNonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which was largely responsible for\norganizing student activism in the movement, including sit-ins and other\nactivities. This included organizing voter registration drives and community\naction programs as well as the peaceful protest march across the Edmund Pettus\nBridge in Selma, Alabama.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDespite more\nthan 40 arrests, physical attacks and serious injuries, Lewis remained a\ndevoted advocate of the philosophy of nonviolence. After leaving SNCC in 1966,\nhe was named associate director of the Field Foundation and participated in the\nSouthern Regional Council\u2019s voter registration programs. Lewis went on to\nbecome the director of the Voter Education Project, which transformed the\nnation\u2019s political climate by adding nearly 4 million minorities to the voter\nrolls.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 1977, Lewis\nwas appointed by President Jimmy Carter to direct more than 250,000 volunteers\nof ACTION, the federal volunteer agency.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 1981, Lewis\nwas elected to the Atlanta City Council. While serving on the Council, he was\nan advocate for ethics in government and neighborhood preservation. He was\nelected to Congress in November 1986 and has served as U.S. Representative of\nGeorgia\u2019s fifth congressional district ever since. He is senior chief deputy whip\nfor the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, a member of the House\nWays and Means Committee, a member of its Subcommittee on Income Security and\nFamily Support, and chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELewis holds a\nB.A. in religion and philosophy from Fisk University, and he is a graduate of\nthe American Baptist Theological Seminary, both in Nashville, Tennessee. He has\nbeen awarded more than 50 honorary degrees from prestigious colleges and\nuniversities, as well as numerous awards from imminent institutions, including\nthe only John F. Kennedy \u201cProfile in Courage Award\u201d for Lifetime Achievement\never granted by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.\u0026nbsp;Last year\nPresident Barack Obama awarded him the Medal of Freedom, the nation\u2019s highest\ncivilian honor. The Timberland Company has developed the John Lewis Award to\nhonor the congressman\u2019s commitment to humanitarian service.\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELewis and his\nwife, Lillian Miles, who reside in Atlanta, have one son, John Miles.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and U.S. Representative John Lewis will address graduates"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EApproximately\n2,000 undergraduate and graduate students will graduate at Georgia Tech\u2019s 241st\ncommencement at the Georgia Dome on Saturday. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will address the\ndoctoral and master\u2019s ceremony at 9 a.m., while U.S. Representative\nJohn Lewis will address the undergraduates at 2 p.m.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Approximately 2,000 undergraduate and graduate students will graduate at Georgia Tech\u2019s 241st commencement at the Georgia Dome on Saturday."}],"uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2011-12-16 11:06:58","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:04:04","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-12-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"74451":{"id":"74451","type":"image","title":"Mayor Kasim Reed","body":null,"created":"1449178046","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:26","changed":"1475894688","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:48","alt":"Mayor Kasim Reed","file":{"fid":"193782","name":"reed_photo.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/reed_photo_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/reed_photo_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":87525,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/reed_photo_0.jpg?itok=eJQi6CM-"}},"74461":{"id":"74461","type":"image","title":"U.S. Representative John Lewis","body":null,"created":"1449178046","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:26","changed":"1475894688","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:48","alt":"U.S. Representative John Lewis","file":{"fid":"193783","name":"john_lewis.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/john_lewis_1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/john_lewis_1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":862534,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/john_lewis_1.jpg?itok=nDb8nfUA"}}},"media_ids":["74451","74461"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.commencement.gatech.edu\/","title":"Commencement information"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"627","name":"commencement"},{"id":"11611","name":"Mayor Kasim Reed"},{"id":"15541","name":"U.S Representative John Lewis"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["mattnagel@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}