Tipper Gore, the wife of U.S. Vice President Al Gore and a national advocate for issues such as children's health, mental health, the homeless and physical fitness, is scheduled to be the speaker for the May 15 commencement ceremonies at Penn State Hazleton.
Approximately 76 students will be receiving associate or baccalaureate degrees at the campus ceremony. Her visit coincides with the campus' observance of its 50th anniversary at Highacres.
Tipper Gore is an active proponent of healthy living and healthy lives, encompassing a variety of issues. She helped form the Congressional Wives Task Force, which sought to draw attention to violence children are exposed to through the media. She subsequently co-founded the Parents' Music Resource Center in 1985 to promote parental and consumer awareness of issues in popular entertainment marketed to children.
Ultimately, the PMRC was successful in gaining a voluntary agreement between the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Parent Teacher Association to place consumer labels on music with violent or explicit lyrics. Those warning labels are still in use today and have served as a model for labeling efforts for television and other media.
A major advocate for the homeless, she co-founded and chaired Families for the Homeless in 1986, a non-partisan partnership of families that raises public awareness of homeless issues. She is the mental health policy adviser to President Clinton, and has also worked closely with the administration to ensure the inclusion of mental health services in health care policy.