[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 163 (Tuesday, November 15, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1476-E1477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF SONDRA MYERS, DIRECTOR OF THE SCHEMEL FORUM AT THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF SCRANTON AND SENIOR FELLOW FOR INTERNATIONAL, CIVIC AND 
                           CULTURAL PROJECTS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MATT CARTWRIGHT

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 15, 2016

  Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Sondra Myers, 
Director of the Schemel Forum at the University of Scranton and Senior 
Fellow for International, Civic and Cultural Projects. On November 13, 
Ms. Myers was the first recipient of WVIA's Arts & Culture Award. As an 
international advocate for the arts, humanities and civil rights, Mrs. 
Myers has had an incredible career working for presidents, governors, 
and institutions.
  Ms. Myers served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1980 to 
1985. From 1987 to 1993, she served as Cultural Advisor to Pennsylvania 
Governor Robert P. Casey. In 1993, Ms. Myers worked for the Chairman at 
the National Endowment for the Humanities for partnerships and 
collaboration. From 1996 to 2000, Myers served as senior advisor to the 
president of Connecticut College. She directed the President's 
Millennium Seminars: The University for a New Democratic Era, a project 
of The George Washington University. She was the Rapoport Democracy 
Fellow at the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of 
Democracy at Rutgers University. She previously held the position of 
senior associate for the Democracy Collaborative at the University of 
Maryland.

[[Page E1477]]

  Since 1996, Ms. Myers has presented programs on democracy in Prague, 
Cracow, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Kigali, and Nairobi and 
in cities throughout the U.S. In addition she has organized and 
moderated symposia on culture and public policy for academic 
institutions and cultural organizations including Lehigh University, 
the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the New School for Social Research, and 
the Education Department of the John F. Kennedy Center for the 
Performing Arts. She is a co-executive producer of The Courage to Care, 
a documentary film about rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, 
nominated for an Academy Award in 1986.
  Ms. Myers has consulted with Radio Free Europe; Connecticut College; 
the municipality of Scottsdale, AZ; the Association of Texas Colleges 
and Universities; the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of 
American History; Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, CO; and the 
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL.
  Ms. Myers has a stellar record of community involvement. Myers is 
past chair of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, past President of 
the Federation of State Humanities Councils, and founding President of 
Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania and the State Arts Advocacy 
League of America. She is former chair of ArtTable, Inc., Washington 
Chapter, a former member of the Public Education Committee of the 
American Bar Association, and served on the Board of Directors of the 
Centre for Creative Communities in the United Kingdom. She has been a 
member and vice chair of the Board of Trustees at the University of 
Scranton and a trustee of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
  It is an honor to recognize Sondra Myers for her lifetime of service. 
I am grateful for all she has done to enrich our culture, advance 
education, and promote civil rights. I extend my sincerest 
congratulations to her for receiving WVIA's Arts and Culture Award

                          ____________________