Thursday, October 07, 2004 Tribute to Dean Phyllis O'Callaghan and the Georgetown University Liberal Studies Degree Program Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I commend the Liberal Studies Degree Program at Georgetown University, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. For three decades, this unique and wonderful program has served the Washington DC area by offering bachelors and masters degrees in interdisciplinary liberal arts. And I am further pleased to commend the person who has headed and guided this unique program for the past 25 years, Associate Dean Phyllis O'Callaghan, a constituent from Chevy Chase, Maryland. As the cochair of the 30th Anniversary Celebration, Chester Gillis, Chairman of the Theology Department and Core Faculty Advisor for Religious Studies in the Liberal Studies Program, stated at the ceremony, the ``heart and soul of this enterprise--someone who embodies Liberal Studies at Georgetown and commands national recognition and respect'' is Associate Dean Phyllis O'Callaghan. In recognition for her work with this program and for all her accomplishments, Dr. O'Callaghan was awarded the ``President's Medal,'' which is the highest award that Georgetown University can present. The Liberal Studies Program at Georgetown is truly unique, outstanding and very special. The program was designed to offer most courses in the evenings and on Saturdays, in order to best accommodate the schedules of those who wish to participate in academia while still pursuing professional careers. The majority of students in the Liberal Studies program are ``working students,'' and the program reflects the intellectual curiosity, breadth of interest, and professional experience of these students whose lives and occupations most graduate programs do not address. The students come from all walks of life. Some are recent college graduates who wish to continue their education by working for a Master's degree. Others work for the government--on the Hill or in the Executive branch. Some are foreign born and are currently working at various embassies or international organizations. This diversity enhances class discussions and enriches the entire program. The professors represent the best Georgetown has to offer. Many teach full-time, but a number also have non-academic careers, which enable them to bring fresh experiences into the classrooms. Fourteen curricular fields provide concentrations in broad areas of special interest. Instead of focusing on academic disciplines, the courses are designed to reflect the questions and interests these adult students carry in their lives and their occupations. The courses and instructors enable the students to read and reflect on great issues that have concerned, thrilled and disturbed major thinkers and movements in the past and in the present. At the core of these courses are the values humans cherish, debate and that are replete in the liberal arts. The Liberal Studies Program graduate and undergraduate degrees are academically structured, intellectually demanding, and personally enriching carrying into the 21st century the Georgetown-Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person. Dr. O'Callaghan received her Ph.D. in History from Saint Louis University and then was a Professor, and then Department Chair, at Saint Mary's Notre Dame, where she also was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Award. She is active in the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs and a Member of its Board of Directors. Dr. O'Callaghan helped the program to receive an $85,000 Grant from NEH; and a $1,200,000 Grant for the James Madison Foundation. The author of several articles and editor of two books; A Clashing of Symbols: Method and Meaning in Liberal Studies  and Values in Conflict: An Interdisciplinary Approach, she also served at one time as a chief legislative assistant and speechwriter in Congress. I congratulate Dean Phyllis O'Callaghan and the Liberal Studies Program and wish them success in the years ahead.