News Releases
Local civic leader honored at law commencement
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
A local civic leader and philanthropist will be awarded an honorary degree during commencement ceremonies May 19 for graduates of Valparaiso University’s School of Law.
Speaking to the 148 graduates in ceremonies in the Chapel of the Resurrection will be political economist Dr. Pat Choate, founder and director of the Manufacturing Policy Project, a Washington-based policy institute.
An honorary doctor of laws degree will be conferred on Donna Draper Welter of Valparaiso, chairwoman of the Board of Directors of First National Bank of Valparaiso and an active supporter of numerous non-profit organizations in the community.
She is often described as the guiding force behind the bank’s support of community organizations such as the Porter County Community Foundation, Hilltop Neighborhood House and Rebuilding Together, which she also personally supports.
A leader of numerous community activities for many years, she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Whispering Pines Health Care Center and is an elder at First Presbyterian Church. She also is active in P.E.O., Beta Gamma Upsilon and the Valparaiso Woman’s Club.
Dr. Choate, who earned a Ph.D. degree in economics at the University of Oklahoma, is author of six books and more than 200 articles and reports on U.S. competitiveness, trade and public policy. His 1991 best-seller Agents of Influence brought international attention to the role of politics in global economic competitiveness and Hot Property: The Stealing of Ideas in an Age of Globalization, published in 2005, addresses concern about the pirating of American intellectual property.
A vice presidential candidate as the running mate of H. Ross Perot in 1996, Dr. Choate has a lengthy record of service in Washington. He has held several positions in the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Office of Management and Budget and on a variety of national commissions, including two presidential commissions that analyzed federally funded training programs.
He is a former economic adviser to the governors of Tennessee and Oklahoma and was employed for nine years by TRW Inc., a multinational conglomerate that was involved in numerous businesses, including several that were defense related.
Ceremonies honoring VU’s students completing undergraduate and graduate degrees will be May 20 in the Athletics-Recreation Center.
| Return to Valparaiso University School of Law News