[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16073]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GRADUATE 
                              PROGRAMS ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 15, 2007

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today I introduce the University of the 
District of Columbia Graduate Programs Act that amends Section 326 of 
the Higher Education Act to provide federal Historically Black College 
and University (HBCU) grant funding to the qualified graduate programs 
at the University of the District of Columbia.
  The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is the District's 
only public university and institution of higher learning. An open 
admission institution at the undergraduate level, the University has 
consistently and historically provided higher education opportunities 
to D.C. residents at low and affordable costs. The University 
justifiably prides itself on its vital role in educating the leaders of 
the next generation by producing theoretically sound and practically 
skilled graduates, ready to undertake careers in service in both the 
public and private sectors.
  UDC also is one of the Nation's oldest HBCUs, but the university did 
not receive federal funding as an HBCU until 1999. When Congress passed 
the District of Columbia College Access Act, I was able to convince 
Congress that the necessary complement to the College Access Act was 
long overdue HBCU funding because of the indispensable function of UDC 
for thousands of students for whom UDC was not only a choice, but the 
only practical option.
  Funding from the Historically Black Graduate Institutions (HBGIs) 
program will allow UDC to increase its production of skilled graduates 
in vital disciplines and jobs in which African Americans, Hispanics and 
others are underrepresented and to strengthen its graduate programs in 
occupations where there are shortages and jobs in our region. For 
example, the University has graduate degree programs in cancer biology 
prevention and control, early childhood education, mathematics, special 
education, and speech and language pathology, and other graduate 
programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, the David A. Clarke 
School of Law, and the School of Business and Public Administration. A 
graduate curriculum is being developed in the School of Engineering and 
Applied Sciences.
  I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

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