[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 56 (Tuesday, May 9, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3685-S3686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        TRIBUTE TO MARVIN FIFIELD

 Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, next month, friends, associates and 
colleagues will gather at Utah State University to honor Mr. Marvin G. 
Fifield, a remarkable man whose entire professional career has been 
devoted to improving the lives of those with learning or developmental 
disabilities. While I stand in tribute to my friend of many years, it 
is his body of work over the span of forty-four years that does him 
honor.
  At his retirement on July 1, Dr. Fifield will have served as the 
founder and Director of the Center for Persons with Disabilities for 
thirty-three years. He wrote the grant application, saw it funded, and 
directed the creation of the center. But it is not the Center alone 
that owes its existence to Dr. Fifield. Over a thirty year period, he 
succeeded in writing, achieving the approval and funding for over fifty 
projects, with combined grants exceeding $60 million. Without his 
skilled direction, numerous regional mental health centers, 
rehabilitation and vocational services, studies and workshops would not 
now be available. The Navajo Initiative in the Developmental 
Disabilities program, the Indian Children's Program, and the Native 
American Initiative program all owe their start to this man.
  Dr. Fifield's chairmanship and membership in professional and 
community service organizations bridges more than three decades and 
forty organizations. To this day he chairs or serves on eight boards, 
including serving as Chairman of the Hatch Utah Advisory Committee on 
Disability Policy. He also serves on the innovative Assistive 
Technology Work Group. Marv was the first to champion assistive 
technologies for people with disabilities--or at least I think he was 
the first because he was the first to tell me about this exciting 
field. Assistive technology comprises all devices that improve the 
functional capabilities of those individuals with disabilities.
  Marv Fifield is so accomplished that his curriculum vitae is not so 
much measured in pages as in pounds.
  In academe, an individual's worth is often measured by how widely 
they have been published. Dr. Fifield has published seventeen books, 
chapters in books, or monographs; he has published twelve refereed 
journal articles and seven non-referenced journal articles; he has 
published seven technical papers; he has submitted ten testimonies and 
reports to congressional and Senate subcommittees; published twenty-
three final reports and research reports; authored eleven instructional 
products, and has authored ninety-one selected unpublished conference 
papers.
  Dr. Fifield has been a consultant to both national and international 
organizations including the World Health Organization. Among the richly 
deserved honors bestowed upon him, he is the recipient of the Leone 
Leadership Award, the highest honor an administrator can receive. He 
was presented the Maurice Warshaw Outstanding Service Award by the 
Governor of the State of Utah and was twice called to serve as a staff 
member on the Labor and Human Resources Committee.
  Since 1981, Marv Fifield has provided leadership for my Utah Advisory 
Committee on Disability Policy. The Disability Advisory Committee has 
become a model for encouraging constructive dialogue among diverse 
interests and points of view. The committee has often been able to 
develop consensus recommendations, which have helped me a great deal 
over the years. I am most grateful to Marv for all his efforts with the 
committee.
  I want to wish him well as he enters the next chapter in his already 
full life. I hope he will find retirement rewarding. But, if he thinks 
he can escape consulting with me and those in Utah who rely on his 
quiet and good-natured leadership to achieve consensus on matters of 
importance in disability policy, he can forget it. I am here to 
announce that we are not letting him off the hook. We need the benefit 
of Marv's knowledge, his humor, and his diplomacy to help us continue 
moving forward.
  So, Mr. President, I rise today to pay a well-deserved tribute to Dr. 
Marvin Fifield. But, I am not bidding him farewell. On the contrary, I 
will be calling

[[Page S3686]]

on him often for the same solid advice and counsel he has given to us 
for so many years.
  The lives of countless thousands of disabled and disadvantaged 
citizens have been enriched as a result of Marvin Fifield's work. As a 
result, our nation will benefit for generations to come. It is a 
privilege to honor him today. I am proud to call him a friend.

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