Newswise — Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will deliver the commencement address at the Nova Southeastern University (NSU) Health Professions Division Commencement Ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, May 30, 2004. NSU's College of Osteopathic Medicine, which was established in 1981, is one of six college's comprising the Health Professions Division.
The first Hispanic woman elected to the United States Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is widely regarded as an international defender of human rights and democracy. She has also been active on the domestic front primarily on issues concerning education, children, senior citizens, women's health, victims' rights, and the environment. She is a member of the Speaker's Task Force for a Drug Free America and is also the architect of the successful Victim's Rights Amendment for Florida.
Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1952, Ros-Lehtinen came to this country at the age of seven when her family decided it was time to flee communist oppression in Cuba. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Florida International University and an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy Degree from Nova Southeastern University. Ros-Lehtinen began her career as an educator and later founded a private elementary school in Florida.
Since 1982, Ros-Lehtinen has demonstrated over 20 years of legislative leadership. She served four years in the Florida House of Representatives and went on to become a state senator. As a state legislator, she introduced and achieved the creation of the Florida Pre-Paid College Tuition program; since its inception, nearly 970,000 plans have been purchased across the state and it continues to be the largest program of its kind in the U.S.
Following the death of Claude Pepper, she won a special congressional election by beating more than ten opponents in her district. Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen currently serves on the International Relations and Government Reform Committees and she is the first Hispanic woman to chair a subcommittee. As chair of the Subcommittee on Middle East and Central Asia, she has become a leading figure shaping foreign policy.
Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen and her husband, Dexter Lehtinen, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, met in the Florida House, were state senators together, and have four children.
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