United States Senator Kay Hagan will deliver Elon University School of Law's 2010 Commencement address, scheduled for Sunday, May 23, at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Greensboro.
One hundred Elon Law students will receive the juris doctorate degree at the ceremonies, which will begin at 3 p.m. A reception will follow commencement at Center City Park one block east of the law school.
Hagan was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008, assuming office on January 3, 2009. She serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
In her first year in national office, Hagan introduced legislation to address economic, education, and health care policy issues, including the Financial Literacy for Students Act, a bill to integrate financial literacy education into public middle school and high schools, as well as the Catalyst to Better Diabetes Care Act, to achieve higher rates of early detection of diabetes and improve delivery of medical treatment for persons with diabetes.
Hagan has also been instrumental in advancing issues of significance to North Carolina residents. In June, she announced a $52 million grant to reduce energy bills for low-income North Carolina families. In January, with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, she announced $545 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to construct and improve high speed rail in North Carolina.
The first piece of legislation that Hagan co-sponsored in the U.S. Senate was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a bill signed into law which strengthens legal protections against pay discrimination based on race, national origin, gender, religion, age or disability.
Prior to election to the United States Senate, Hagan served in the North Carolina State Senate for 10 years. As co-chair of the state Budget Committee, Hagan was instrumental in raising teacher pay, increasing the minimum wage, increasing the state’s “Rainy Day” fund, and balancing five consecutive state budgets.
She was named one of North Carolina’s “Ten Most Effective Senators,” three terms in a row by the non-partisan North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research.
Hagan’s early political activities include grassroots campaigning for her uncle, Lawton Chiles, former Florida governor and U.S. Senator, and management of Jim Hunt’s 1992 and 1996 gubernatorial campaigns in Guilford County.
Hagan was born in Shelby, North Carolina. A graduate of Florida State University and Wake Forest Law School, she worked at North Carolina National Bank (a predecessor to Bank of America) for 10 years, becoming a vice president in the estates and trust division.
In 2009, David Gergen, adviser to four U.S. presidents, director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and chair of the Elon University School of Law Advisory Board, delivered the commencement address before the charter class of Elon Law.
Click here for more information about Elon University School of Law’s 2010 Commencement exercises.