Press Release - President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

•      Gerald L. Early – Member, National Council on the Humanities

•      Patricia Nelson Limerick – Member, National Council on the Humanities

•      Shelly C. Lowe– Member, National Council on the Humanities

•      Daniel I. Okimoto– Member, National Council on the Humanities

•      Katherine H. Tachau– Member, National Council on the Humanities

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

•      Chester Alonzo Finn – Member, National Council on Disability

•      Captain Jonathan F. Kuniholm, USMC (Ret) – Member, National Council on Disability

•      Jeff Rosen – Member, National Council on Disability

•      Lynnae M. Ruttledge – Member, National Council on Disability

•      Alice Wong – Member, National Council on Disability

President Obama said, "I am honored that these talented individuals have decided to join this Administration and serve our country. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come."

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Dr. Gerald L. Early, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Gerald L. Early is Director of the Center for Humanities, Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters, and a Professor of English at Washington University in Saint Louis. Since 1982, he has held various positions at Washington University, including Professor of English, African and Afro-American Studies, and Director of the American Culture Studies Program. Dr. Early serves on the Board of Advisory Editors of Oxford Companion to African-American Literature and is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Missouri Historical Society and the Advisory Board of The Antioch Review. He is the author of One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture and The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature, and Modern American Culture, which won the 1994 National Book Critics Award. Dr. Early received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Dr. Patricia Nelson Limerick, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Patricia Nelson Limerick is Chair of the Board and Faculty Director of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she is also a Professor of History and Environmental Studies. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor at Harvard University from 1980 to 1984.  Dr. Limerick is President of the Society of American Historians. She served as Vice President for Teaching of the American Historical Association from 2010 to 2011, and as President of the American Studies Association in 1996 and the Western History Association in 2000. Dr. Limerick has received numerous awards and honors, including the Bonfils-Stanton Prize in the Arts and Humanities in 2012, the Hazel Barnes Prize in 2001, as well as the MacArthur Fellowship in 1995. Dr. Limerick received a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Shelly C. Lowe, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Shelly C. Lowe is the Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program, a position she has held since 2009. From 2007 to 2009, she was the Assistant Dean for Native American Affairs at the Yale College Dean's Office and Director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University. Previously, she served as the Graduate Education Program Facilitator for the American Indian Studies Program at The University of Arizona. Ms. Lowe served on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian from 2007 to 2009, and was Vice President of the National Indian Education Association from 2001 to 2002. Ms. Lowe received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Daniel I. Okimoto, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Daniel I. Okimoto is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Stanford University, having served as a professor from 1977 to 2009. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow Emeritus at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Director Emeritus of the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center, which he co-founded in 1976. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Councilors for the United States Japan Council. Previously, Dr. Okimoto was the Vice-Chairman of the Japan Committee of the National Research Council at the National Academy of Sciences, and was a Member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Politics at Princeton University. Dr. Okimoto received a B.A. from Princeton University, an M.A. from Harvard University, and a Ph. D. from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Katherine H. Tachau, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Katherine H. Tachau is a Professor of History at the University of Iowa, where she has taught since 1985. Previously, she taught at Pomona College from 1982 to 1985 and Montana State University from 1981 to 1982. From 1979 to 1981, she was a researcher at the Institute for Medieval Greek and Latin Philology at Copenhagen University in Denmark. Dr. Tachau has published extensively on medieval philosophy, science, and art; and has received the John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy of America. In addition, she received the Regents Award for Faculty Excellence at the University of Iowa in 2009, and she has been awarded fellowships from the Stanford Humanities Center, the National Humanities Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dr. Tachau received a B.A. in Spanish and Medieval Studies from Oberlin College, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Chester Alonzo Finn, Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability

Chester Alonzo Finn is a Special Assistant in the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, a position he has held since 1997. He was first appointed to the National Council on Disability by President Obama in 2010. In 2008, Mr. Finn, who is blind and developmentally disabled, co-founded the Community Empowerment Programs Incorporated, which provides community services and educational programing for people with disabilities. He served as President and Chairman of the National Self Advocates Becoming Empowered from 2002 to 2006 and then again from 2009 to 2011. In 1995, he received the New York State Self Advocate of the Year Award. Mr. Finn received an A.A. from Genessee Community College.

Captain Jonathan F. Kuniholm, USMC (Ret), Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability

Captain Jonathan F. Kuniholm is the President and Founder of the Open Prosthetics Project, and the Founder of StumpworX, Inc., a prosthetic arm manufacturing company. Captain Kuniholm served in the United States Marine Corps from 1997 to 2006. He served as a combat engineer officer and platoon commander for the 1st Marine Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom II. In 2006, he was honorably discharged after being wounded in combat and losing his right forearm. He is a Member of the Board of the Given Limb Foundation, and is an advisor and past Chair of the Board of Able Flight. In 2009, he received the DESIGNsmith award from North Carolina State University, and received a fellowship from the National Science Foundation's Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program in 2003. Mr. Kuniholm received an A.B. from Dartmouth College, and a B.S., M.S., and M.I.D. from North Carolina State University.

Jeff Rosen, Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability

Jeff Rosen is the General Counsel to ZVRS, a company that provides video interpreting services and products to facilitate communication between deaf and non-deaf speakers. Prior to joining ZVRS, Mr. Rosen served as the General Counsel and Vice President of Government Relations of Snap!VRS from 2007 until 2011. Previously, he served as the General Counsel and Director of Policy for the National Council on Disability from 2000 to 2007. He was an attorney at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1987 to 2000. Mr. Rosen is Treasurer of the United States International Council on Disabilities, a Member of the National Association of the Deaf Employment Task Force, and serves as an advisor to the World Federation of the Deaf. He was a Member and Officer of the American Bar Association's Disabled Attorney's section from 1987 to 1990, and served on the Board of DeafPride, including as its President from 1987 to 2000. Mr. Rosen received a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Washington.

Lynnae M. Ruttledge Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability

Lynnae M. Ruttledge is a disability policy advisor to Daughters of Charity, Technology Research Into Disability, an international research institute. Ms. Ruttledge served as Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration with the U.S. Department of Education from 2010 to 2012. From 2005 to 2009, Ms. Ruttledge served as the Director for Statewide Programs for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Previously, Ms. Ruttledge held various positions at the Oregon Department of Human Services, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services, starting in the mental health division in 1986 and ultimately serving as a grants administrator before leaving in 2005. Ms. Ruttledge began her career as a public school teacher in Michigan. In 2007, she received the Washington Governor's Award for Leadership in Management. Ms. Ruttledge received a B.S. from Northern Michigan University.

Alice Wong, Appointee for Member, National Council on Disability

Alice Wong is a Staff Research Associate for the National Center for Personal Assistance Services at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), which conducts research and training to support the care of people with disabilities. She is President of the San Francisco In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Governing Body, and is a Board Member of Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California. Ms. Wong served as Vice Chair of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Disability Issues at UCSF from 2006 to 2009. She received the Mayor's Disability Council Beacon Award in 2010, the 2010 Chancellor's Disability Service Award, and the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award at UCSF for leadership on behalf of the disability community. Ms. Wong received a B.A. from Indiana University and an M.S. from the University of California, San Francisco.