VOORHEES COLLEGE PRESS RELEASE Contact: Paula M. Little Assist. Dir. Media Relations & Marketing Voorhees College 151 Academic Circle Denmark, SC 29042 little@voorhees.edu 803-703-7060
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 22, 2005
Senator Lindsey O. Graham Keynotes
108th Voorhees College Commencement
Denmark, SC – Voorhees College welcomes Senator Lindsey O. Graham as the keynote speaker for its th 108 Commencement on May 7 at 11:00 a.m. in the Leonard E. Dawson Health and Human resources Center. Prior to Commencement at 10:00 a. m. on Solomon Blatt Boulevard in the grove area adjacent to the Voorhees Memorial Gardens on the Campus the official Ground Breaking Ceremony for The Rural Health Center will take place. Senator Lindsey O. Graham, a native South Carolinian, grew up in Central, graduated from D.W. Daniel High School, and earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Graham logged six-and-a-half years of service on active duty as an Air Force lawyer. From 1984-1988, he was assigned overseas and served at Rhein Mein Air Force Base in Germany. Upon leaving the active duty Air Force in 1989, Graham joined the South Carolina Air National Guard where he served until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. During the first Gulf War, Graham was called to active duty and served state-side at McEntire Air National Guard Base as Staff Judge Advocate where he prepared members for deployment to the Gulf region. His duties included briefing pilots on the law of armed conflict, preparing legal documents for deploying troops, and providing legal services for family members of the South Carolina Air National Guard. He received a commendation medal for his service at McEntire. Since 1995, Graham has continued to serve his country in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and is the only U.S. Senator currently serving in the Guard or Reserves. He is a colonel and is assigned as a Reserve Judge to the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. In 1988, Graham went into private law practice and in 1992 was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. In 1994, he became the first Republican to represent South Carolina's Third Congressional District in Washington since 1877. Lindsey O. Graham was elected to serve as United States Senator on November 5, 2002. Graham is known as a leader who never abandons his independence or strays from the conservative reform agenda. He has fought to balance the federal budget, provide tax relief to all taxpayers, keep our
military adequately funded and prepared, return control of education back to parents and teachers, and ensure the government keeps its promises to America's greatest generation. He serves on four committees in the U.S. Senate: Armed Services, Judiciary, Budget, and Veterans Affairs Graham lives in Seneca and is a member of Corinth Baptist Church. The Rural Health Center will be a unique facility and will provide clinical and public health services for the community as well as research and outreach programs that impact the state of South Carolina and the Nation. In September 2002, Voorhees College was awarded a grant of $1,476,731 by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the purpose of constructing a rural health center on its campus. After many months of extensive designing and planning, in April 2005 the HHS Office of Engineering Services provided final approval to begin construction on this 13,000 square feet facility. This facility will serve as the home for the Voorhees College Center of Excellence in Rural and Minority Health (COE). This Center engages in rural health research, community outreach and educational programming. Some of these projects include the Clemson University/Voorhees College EXPORT project, the National Library of Medicine’s, Research and Medical Information Center (RAMIC), and the Robert Wood Johnson’s Digital Generation Divide project. Clinical Services will also be provided in the new facility. The provision of primary care to the residents of Bamberg County and the surrounding communities will greatly decrease the need for emergency and inpatient care which result from lack of preventive medical attention. The clinical services will be provided by Family Health Centers, a federally funded community health center serving the medically-underserved residents of Orangeburg, Bamberg, Calhoun and upper Dorchester counties. The Denmark Health Department will also reside in the facility and will provide a variety of public health services to students, residents and others in the surrounding communities. The cohabitation of public health services, clinical services, research, education and outreach in a single facility is unique for a small rural community. It is expected that new partnerships and collaborations in rural health research and training programs will emerge from this novel arrangement. Voorhees College President Dr. Lee Monroe, COE Executive Director Dr. Leroy Davis, former COE Executive Director Dr. Monnie Singleton, and many other partners have provided leadership for this important initiative. GMK Associates of Columbia, South Carolina is the project developer. The public is welcome to the ground breaking ceremony. For further information regarding this project contact Dr. Leroy Davis at 803-703-7007. Voorhees College is a private, coeducational institution affiliated with the Episcopal Church. From its founding in 1897, Voorhees has evolved into a leading four-year liberal arts college fully accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Voorhees is fully committed to its mission to meet the highest standards for educating the minds, hearts and spirits of young men and women. Additional information about Voorhees College can be found on the web at www.voorhees.edu.
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