MEDIA CONTACT: Kristine M. McGrath
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Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder Speaks at FAU
Discussion focused on women's issues, women in politics

BOCA RATON, FL (December 9, 2005) - Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder spoke today about women's issues and women in politics at an open forum at Florida Atlantic University's Boca Raton Campus. The lecture was sponsored by FIRE/NOW, Planned Parenthood, FAU's chapter of the College Democrats and the Women's Studies department at FAU.
Schroeder, who represented Colorado's First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives for 24 years, spoke to attendees about the status of women in politics, the prospects for electing a female president and current hot topics of special interest to women such as healthcare and reproductive rights.

"During her tenure as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Schroeder was the first woman to serve on the House Armed Services Committee and championed several initiatives of special interest to women," said Dr. Robert Watson, associate professor of political science at FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. "She is an excellent example of a woman who broke through the glass ceiling and set an example for those who followed."

Schroeder graduated magna cum laude in 1961 from the University of Minnesota and went on to Harvard Law School, one of only 15 women in a class of more than 500 men. She earned her J.D. in 1964 and moved to Denver, Colorado with her husband, James, who in 1972 encouraged her to challenge an incumbent Republican for the House seat representing Colorado's First Congressional District.

The mother of two young children at the time she was elected to the House, Schroeder went on to serve 12 terms. During her tenure in the House, she became the dean of Congressional Women, co-chaired the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues and served on the House Judiciary Committee, the Post Office and Civil Service Committee. As chair of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families from 1991 to 1993, Schroeder guided the Family and Medical Leave Act and the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act to enactment in 1993, a fitting legislative achievement for her lifetime of work on behalf of women's and family issues. She was also active on many military issues, expediting the National Security Committee's vote to allow women to fly combat missions in 1991 and working to improve the situation of military families through passage of her Military Family Act in 1985.

Schroeder left Congress undefeated in 1996. For a brief period of time in 1986, she considered running for President but withdrew for lack of funds despite the fact that she ranked third in a Time magazine poll. Currently, the former congresswoman is president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), the national trade organization of the U.S. book publishing industry, a post she assumed on June 1, 1997.

In addition to heading AAP, Schroeder also leads New Century/New Solutions, an out-of-the-box think tank, for the Institute for Civil Society in Newton, Massachusetts and serves on the Marguerite Casey Foundation Board of Directors and the American Bar Association's Center for Human Rights Executive Committee. She also serves on various advisory committees dealing with literacy and issues affecting children and women.

Schroeder is the author of two books: Champion of the Great American Family (Random House, 1989) and 24 Years of House Work...and the Place Is Still a Mess (Andrews McMeel, 1998). She is in the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame.

-- FAU --