Former Clinton Cabinet Member to Present Keynote at Colorado State’s Diversity Conference Oct. 4

Henry Cisneros, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 1997 under President Clinton, will be featured as a keynote speaker for the 2006 Diversity Conference at 7 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Lory Student Center Main Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

The sixth annual conference, "Diversity in the 21st Century: Preparing the Workforce" is Oct. 3-5 and will be held in the Lory Student Center.

Cisneros has been a mayor, cabinet member, media executive and business leader. He achieved unprecedented success as secretary of HUD and as four-term mayor of San Antonio, Texas.

President Clinton appointed Cisneros secretary of HUD in 1993. Under his leadership, home ownership in America reached record levels. Cisneros was widely praised for transforming HUD from a severely mismanaged bureaucracy into an effective, efficient agency that actively worked against racial segregation and poverty in inner cities.

Cisneros also served as mayor of San Antonio in 1993, becoming the first Hispanic-American ever to run a major American city. During his four terms, Cisneros was a popular leader who helped revitalize the city’s economy, making San Antonio one of America’s most progressive cities.

As a former president of Univision, the nation’s fifth largest TV network, Cisneros now serves as a chairman of American CityVista and City View. He is leading a movement to strengthen the nation one neighborhood at a time. In 2004, he was named "Builder of the Year" by El Nuevo Constructor Magazine.  

In addition to Cisneros, the 2006 Diversity Conference will feature a lineup of speakers who have a powerful influence on advancing cultural diversity in America, including Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. Jemison will provide a keynote address Oct. 3 during the Diversity Conference.

The conference also offers workshops for the public and high school students on a variety of topics as well as university dialogues on immigration issues. The event is designed to address multiple issues for varying audiences, including topics on race, ethnicity, gender, the multi-generational workforce and sexual orientation.

For more information about the conference, visit the Web at diversity.colostate.edu.

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