[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 19 (Thursday, February 1, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S341]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                    TRIBUTE TO PEGGY GOLDWATER CLAY

 Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, today I rise to recognize Peggy 
Goldwater Clay for her 20 years of service as the chair of the board of 
trustees of the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education 
Foundation. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education 
Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 to serve as a living 
memorial to honor the lifetime work of Senator Barry Goldwater, who 
served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 
30 years in the U.S. Senate. Peggy Goldwater Clay is Senator 
Goldwater's youngest daughter.
  During Mrs. Clay's tenure, she enhanced the visibility and national 
reputation of the foundation by successfully promoting its mission and 
goals of seeking to identify, encourage, and financially support 
college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming 
this Nation's next generation of research leaders in the fields of 
natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.
  As chair, Mrs. Clay promoted the foundation's modernization, 
effective communication, innovation, and collaboration with Tribal 
colleges, community colleges, 4-year universities, and other 
institutions.
  She approved, with unanimous board support, the technological 
improvements of the foundation's application process that transitioned 
it from paper to online applications and from in-person to virtual 
review. This effort greatly reduced the costs of processing the 
nominations received by the foundation from colleges and universities 
in all 50 States and U.S. Territories.
  Mrs. Clay encouraged and approved a 2014 survey of Goldwater 
Awardees, revealing that the outcomes desired when the foundation was 
established by Congress are being fulfilled; the survey showed that 
upwards of 70 percent of those who had been awarded Goldwater 
Scholarships had gone on to obtains Ph.Ds. in natural sciences, 
engineering, and mathematics and that a similar percentage had pursued 
research careers in these critical fields.
  She approved the inception of the Goldwater Scholar Faculty Mentor 
Award, a collaborative initiative between the Council on Undergraduate 
Research and the foundation that annually recognizes an outstanding 
faculty mentor of the Goldwater Scholars.
  Mrs. Clay endorsed a proposal, submitted by the foundation's 
president, that resulted in a $9 million grant from the Department of 
Defense Education Program. This grant enabled the foundation to nearly 
double the number of scholarships it awarded from 2019 to 2023.
  Also, during her tenure, Mrs. Clay helped establish the Barry 
Goldwater Educational Support fund, a scholars alumni organization 
known as the Goldwater Scholar Community, a new undergraduate research 
internship initiative, and a strategy to enhance the diversity of 
Goldwater Scholarship Awardees.
  The foundation received a direct $2 million congressional 
appropriation in 2022 to further support its scholarship awards. In 
2021, Congress reauthorized the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and 
Excellence in Education Foundation. These accomplishments would not 
have been possible without Mrs. Clay's efforts.
  I, along with the board of trustees of the Barry Goldwater 
Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation, express sincere 
gratitude and profound appreciation for Peggy Goldwater Clay's long, 
tireless, and inspired service as chair of the board of 
trustees.

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