[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       DR. MARIE FIELDER HONORED

                                 ______


                         HON. RONALD V. DELLUMS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 21, 1995

  Mr. DELLUMS. Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise to honor 
Dr. Marie Fielder for the work done and the leadership given over more 
than 30 years. I have known her for more than three decades, and her 
distinguished accomplishments in the behavioral sciences, her 
constructive organizational change strategies in school systems and in 
communities, as well as her towering strength and problem-solving 
ingenuity have contributed enormously to the goals and objectives of 
the San Francisco Bay Area and Berkeley community where she resides.
  While serving as associate professor of education at the University 
of California, Dr. Fielder helped the Berkeley Unified School District, 
its board of education, administrators, teachers, students, parents, 
and citizens plan very carefully for the desegregation of its public 
schools. Despite an unsuccessful attempt to recall those particular 
board members, the city went on to become the first school system in 
the Nation to desegregate its schools, not by placing the burden only 
on minority students, but by two-way bussing which shared the 
responsibility across the city. This effort required enormous planning, 
building of trust, encouragement of participation, and the sharing of 
all points of view, and the empowering of parents and community members 
who had not been as active in the public schools before.
  Dr. Fielder's genius in working respectfully with all kinds of people 
to help empower and enable them to solve their own problems became an 
inspiration for students in education at the University of California 
at Berkeley, at San Francisco State College, and at Stanford. Dr. 
Fielder herself became a role model, who encouraged and nurtured 
university students to pursue and attain their graduate degrees; and 
many of them went on to become impressive leaders in their respective 
careers in the decades which followed. Other campuses which called upon 
her for her expertise and assistance in multicultural and intergroup 
relations theory and practice included Oregon State university, 
Michigan State, the University of Miami, and St. Mary's College.
  Similarly, over the decades, school systems across the Nation in at 
least 10 States have sought her assistance; and she has helped them. 
Dr. Fielder has shared her wisdom and skill in numerous California 
school districts; she has helped educators, students, and others learn 
very important things about themselves and about other human beings. 
She has been an exemplary public servant, bringing quiet dignity and 
distinction to every project on which she has worked.
  Our local community, as well as our national community, are indeed 
fortunate in having amongst us the person, the work, and the leadership 
of Dr. Marie Fielder, and it is with great respect and admiration that 
I commend her to your attention.

                          ____________________