President Obama Announces Key Administration Posts for National Council on Humanities and More

Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key Administration posts:

· Gerald L. Early - Member, National Council on the Humanities

· Patricia Nelson Limerick - Member, National Council on the Humanities

· Shelly C. Lowe- Member, National Council on the Humanities

· Daniel I. Okimoto- Member, National Council on the Humanities

· Katherine H. Tachau- Member, National Council on the Humanities

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

· Chester Alonzo Finn - Member, National Council on Disability

· Captain Jonathan F. Kuniholm, USMC (Ret) - Member, National Council on Disability

· Jeff Rosen - Member, National Council on Disability

· Lynnae M. Ruttledge - Member, National Council on Disability

· Alice Wong - Member, National Council on Disability

President Obama said, "I am honored that these talented individuals have decided to join this Administration and serve our country. I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come."

Dr. Gerald L. Early, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Gerald L. Early is Director of the Center for Humanities, Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters, and a Professor of English at Washington University in Saint Louis. Since 1982, he has held various positions at Washington University, including Professor of English, African and Afro-American Studies, and Director of the American Culture Studies Program. Dr. Early serves on the Board of Advisory Editors of Oxford Companion to African-American Literature and is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Missouri Historical Society and the Advisory Board of The Antioch Review. He is the author of One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture and The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature, and Modern American Culture, which won the 1994 National Book Critics Award. Dr. Early received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Dr. Patricia Nelson Limerick, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Patricia Nelson Limerick is Chair of the Board and Faculty Director of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she is also a Professor of History and Environmental Studies. Previously, she was an Assistant Professor at Harvard University from 1980 to 1984. Dr. Limerick is President of the Society of American Historians. She served as Vice President for Teaching of the American Historical Association from 2010 to 2011, and as President of the American Studies Association in 1996 and the Western History Association in 2000. Dr. Limerick has received numerous awards and honors, including the Bonfils-Stanton Prize in the Arts and Humanities in 2012, the Hazel Barnes Prize in 2001, as well as the MacArthur Fellowship in 1995. Dr. Limerick received a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. from Yale University.

Shelly C. Lowe, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Shelly C. Lowe is the Executive Director of the Harvard University Native American Program, a position she has held since 2009. From 2007 to 2009, she was the Assistant Dean for Native American Affairs at the Yale College Dean's Office and Director of the Native American Cultural Center at Yale University. Previously, she served as the Graduate Education Program Facilitator for the American Indian Studies Program at The University of Arizona. Ms. Lowe served on the Board of Trustees for the National Museum of the American Indian from 2007 to 2009, and was Vice President of the National Indian Education Association from 2001 to 2002. Ms. Lowe received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Arizona.

Dr. Daniel I. Okimoto, Nominee for Member, National Council on the Humanities

Dr. Daniel I. Okimoto is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Stanford University, having served as a professor from 1977 to 2009. In addition, he is a Senior Fellow Emeritus at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a Director Emeritus of the Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center, which he co-founded in 1976. He serves as the Chairman of the Board of Councilors for the United States Japan Council. Previously, Dr. Okimoto was the Vice-Chairman of the Japan Committee of the National Research Council at the National Academy of Sciences, and was a Member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Politics at Princeton University. Dr. Okimoto received a B.A. from Princeton University, an M.A. from Harvard University, and a Ph. D. from the University of Michigan.