Update: Fattah Will Deliver Three Commencement Addresses in May at Philadelphia University, Lincoln and Elizabeth City

PHILADELPHIA, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), a leading advocate in Congress for educational equity and support for higher education, will deliver the Spring Commencement addresses and receive honorary degrees at three universities in May: Philadelphia University, Lincoln University and Elizabeth City (N.C.) State University.

Fattah will address graduating seniors at Philadelphia University, which is located in the 2nd District that he represents, on May 16. The university will award the Congressman the honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering.

"We are so pleased that Representative Fattah, who has championed numerous measures to help students both aspire to and afford a college or university education, will be addressing our graduates at this year's Commencement," said Philadelphia University President Stephen Spinelli Jr., Ph.D. "I'm sure his leadership on these important issues has helped many students aim for and achieve a higher education degree, and all the benefits that accrue from that."

Fattah said, "I am honored by the invitation to address the 2010 graduating class of future leaders of our city and our nation. I look forward to Spring Commencement at Philadelphia University, one of our greatest local institutions of higher learning."

The Congressman added, "I'm pleased to be addressing graduates and to receive honorary degrees at two of our finest historically black universities. Lincoln and Elizabeth City are to be commended for their historic and contemporary roles in preparing young people for leadership in our diverse and complex society."

On May 2, Congressman Fattah will deliver the address at commencement ceremonies at Lincoln University. On May 8, the Congressman will travel to eastern North Carolina for the commencement address at Elizabeth City State University. Lincoln, in Oxford, Penna., and Elizabeth City, an institution in the University of North Carolina system, are also awarding Fattah honorary doctorate degrees.

Congressman Fattah has won numerous honors and recognition as an innovative and effective advocate for education reform throughout his 27-year career in Congress and the Pennsylvania Legislature.

He is the Congressional architect of GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), the largest pre-college awareness program serving more than 10 million students and providing more than $3 billion toward the educational advancement and college readiness of low-income students, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

In the 111th Congress, Fattah wrote the American Opportunity Tax Credit, funded at $14 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enacted last year. The legislation provides a $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for tuition and other higher education expenses for college students or their parents for tax years 2009 and 2010.

Congressman Fattah, who attended schools in his hometown from elementary to post-graduate, earned the Masters Degree of Government Administration (M.G.A.) from the University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Government (as it is now known), in 1986. He is the recipient of the Samuel S. Fels Award for Alumni Achievement from Fels, awarded in 2000, "honoring his distinguished leadership and numerous accomplishments in public service."

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah

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