Please join the University of Tennessee Space Institute on March 20, at 10 a.m. for a black history celebration featuring women’s history. The speaker, The Honorable Hazel R. O’Leary, former Secretary of Energy and current President of Fisk University, will speak about a “Journey to Success.”

Determined, Mrs. O’Leary has had a successful career in government, private sector, and education. She worked as a prosecutor in the state of New Jersey after graduating from Rutgers University Law School. Under President Ford, O’Leary received her first appointment to the Federal Energy Administration. During the Carter Administration, she continued her federal service as the administrator of the Economic Regulatory Administration at the newly-created Department of Energy.

Returning to the private sector during the eighties, O’Leary worked as a principal partner in the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand and then established, with her husband, the consulting firm of O’Leary and Associates where she served as vice president and general counsel. In 1993, she was nominated to be Secretary of Energy by President Clinton. In just four years, her leadership of the department brought a new emphasis on fiscal responsibility which saved the American taxpayers $10 billion. In 2004, O’Leary entered academia as the 14th President of Fisk University. Her mission as President has been to increase the critical support of the 143 year old historically black institution.

O’Leary has had the distinction of serving on a number of boards and committees. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of ITC Holdings, Inc., CAMAC Energy Inc., Nashville Business Committee for the Arts, the Nashville Alliance for Public Education, Nashville Opera and The Arms Control Association.

The program will include special music and a reception following the program. The event is free and open to the public. Please contact UTSI Human Resources at (931) 393-7226 for additional information.