Nomination of Leonard H.O. Spearman, Sr., To Be United States Ambassador to Lesotho

The President today announced his intention to nominate Leonard H.O. Spearman, Sr., of Texas, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Kingdom of Lesotho. He would succeed Robert M. Smalley.

Since 1988 Dr. Spearman has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Rwanda. Prior to 1980 he served in various positions at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the Office of Education in Washington, DC: Associate Deputy Commissioner for Higher and Continuing Education, 1978 - 1980; Acting Deputy Commissioner for Higher and Continuing Education, 1976 - 1978; Associate Commissioner for Student Assistance, 1975 - 1978; Director of the Division of Student Financial Assistance, 1972 - 1975; and Director of the Division of Student Special Services, 1970 - 1972. In addition Dr. Spearman has served as a distinguished professor of educational psychology at Texas Southern University, 1986 - 1988; president of Texas Southern University in Houston, TX, 1980 - 1986; professor of psychology at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, 1960 - 1970; associate professor of psychology at Florida A&M University, 1957 - 1960; teaching fellow in the School of Education at the University of Michigan Hospital Children's Psychiatric Institute, 1954 - 1957; instructor for the School of Education at Florida A&M, 1950 - 1954; science instructor at Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, 1948 - 1949; and a laboratory assistant at Florida A&M University, 1947 - 1948.

Dr. Spearman graduated from Florida A&M University (B.S., 1947) and the University of Michigan (M.A., 1950; Ph.D., 1960). He was born July 8, 1929, in Tallahassee, FL. Dr. Spearman is married and has three children.