Tina Tchen to Speak at Knox College Opening Convocation

UPDATE: Due to inclement weather, which resulted in numerous airline flight cancellations in the Midwest on September 10, Tina Tchen was unable to travel to Knox for the opening convocation.

A top member of President Obama's White House staff will deliver the principal address at Knox College's Opening Convocation on Thursday, September 10, 2009.

Tina M. Tchen, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, will join Knox College in formally opening the 2009-2010 academic year. The Convocation will be held at 11 a.m. in Harbach Theatre in the Ford Center for the Fine Arts. In addition to Tchen's Convocation address, the event will include a performance by the Knox College Choir and presentation of awards for teaching excellence, student academic achievement, and staff institutional service.

Before being tapped to serve President Obama's administration, Tina Tchen was a prominent Chicago lawyer with the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and a women's activist. She also has been appointed by President Obama to serve as executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls. A long-time advocate for women's issues, Tchen has served as the state vice president of the National Organization for Women and worked successfully to help pass the Illinois Criminal Sexual Assault Act. As a lawyer, Tchen has experience litigating cases in both state and federal courts. During her legal career, she has represented such public agencies as the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois Department of Public Aid, and the Chicago Housing Authority. In 1992, she successfully represented the State of Illinois before the U.S. Supreme Court. Tchen earned a B.A. from Harvard University in 1978 and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1984.

The White House Office of Public Engagement considers itself, "the open front door to the White House." The office coordinates White House events, arranges public speaking engagements for the president, vice president and White House staff, and seeks public opinion on issues before the administration. It was previously known as the Office of Public Liaison.

• White House Office of Public Engagement

Also during the Convocation, the College will recognize student, faculty and staff achievement with the Janet C. Hunter Prizes for staff, the Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Awards for Distinguished Teaching, and the Faculty Scholarship Prize for outstanding student scholarship.

Opening Convocation is free and open to the public.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 48 countries. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.