Mary E. Peters: Successful Uop Grad June 27, 2009
Posted by admin in : Famous UoP Students , 1 comment so farMary E.Peters was born in 1948. She was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She held the post of United States Secretary of Transportation from the year 2006 to 2009. That being said, she is first Arizonian and the second woman who has held this post.
She completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Phoenix. Apart from that, she was also a part of University of Bridgeport as she was part of an education program.
Before she joined President Bush, Peters was a part of HDR Inc. which was a well-known engineering firm.
Public Service:
Mary E.Peters became a part of the Arizona Department of Transportation during the year 1985 and was asked to be its director in 1998, courtesy Jane Dee Hull. In 2001, George W. Bush was elected President and the same year, Peters arrived at Washington and took up the post of the Federal Highway Administration. She worked at this post for 4 years, that is, from 2001 to 2005. Peters was appointed as Co-Vice Chairwoman of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission in 2006, courtesy, President Bush. However, soon after, she gave up her post of SECDOT due to the upcoming administration of Barrack Obama. Ray LaHood took up this post in 2009.
Speculation:
There was speculation during the year 2005, according to which, Mary E.Peters was running for governor for the year 2006. She agreed that she was not only considering it but also thought herself to be a strong candidate. Even though she had resided in Virginia and was also registered to vote there, she had been passed off as being eligible for the above mentioned post. However, she decided not to run for governor as she felt that the issue at hand would have been an unwelcome interruption from the ongoing race. According to sources, she is considering the post of governor of Arizona for the year 2010.
Transportation Secretary:
Mary E.Peters was considered for the post of Secretary of Transportation by Bush in 2006. She was to succeed Norman Mineta. Mary E.Peters took up the post of Transportation Secretary in September 2006. This position was granted to her by Joshua Bolten who was the White House Chief of Staff.
Mary E.Peters was an important part of the administration that helped form a number of public policies for the transportation program.
Mary E.Peter’s Policies:
Peters is an avid supporter of leasing out roads to private companies and charging tolls for the purpose of building new highways. In an exclusive interview, Peters claimed that the National Highway System would soon run out of money without any considerable changes. She went on to say that instead of charging high taxes, majority of the states should consider toll roads that are rented out to private companies for the purpose of filling monetary deficits. Mary E.Peters also greatly supported the use of newer technologies for the purpose of reducing manual labor as well as the construction time period. Alongside, she also wished to reduce taxpayer payment. She also supported the construction of safer and sturdier roads. The same held true for highways.
Her other policies include that of supporting open borders for the purpose of trade. However, she faced avid opposition from a number of labor unions. According to the press conference in 2008, Mary Peters reported that payments including that of Arizona as well as the Highway Trust Fund would be substantially reduced due to the dropping of federal fuel tax collections. This development led to a significant postponement of a number of projects in the offing, including that of Arizona Department of Transportation.
Lisa Leslie: Famous UoP Graduate June 20, 2009
Posted by admin in : Famous UoP Students , add a commentLisa Leslie was born on July 7th, 1972 in California. Her mother lead a truck driving business and her father went his own way before Lisa was born. Tiffany and Dionne are Lisa’s two sisters.
When she was 13, she was asked to become a part of the basketball team in her junior high school. Being a left hander, she felt side-lined and taught herself how to play with her right hand which resulted in her becoming ambidextrous.
At 14, universities like Stanford University contacted her, asking her to join them.
She created a lot of ripples in high school wherein she won a number of championships for the school.
College and University of Phoenix:
Lisa got enrolled in University of Southern California for her undergraduate’s degree. She graduated in 1994. Soon after, she became a part of the University of Phoenix alumni for the purpose of getting a post graduation degree in business administration.
During her college years, Lisa’s basketball career was on fire. She played in about 120 games during which she scored at least 20 points, hut at least 54% of all her shots and knocked down at least 70% of all her free throws. She broke a number of records with reference to scoring, blocked shots as well as rebounding. She was awarded the Rookie of the year award and also the best female basketball player’s award during the 1990s.
The Women’s National Basketball Association:
The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) began in the year 1997 and Lisa joined the Los Angeles Sparks Team soon after. In 2001, the team won the WNBA title. In 2003, she scored over 2500 career points and achieved the title of being the first WNBA player to do so. During the same year, she was part of the reason why the Los Angeles Sparks Team won a world championship. In 2005, she broke her own record and passed the 4000 career points mark and again, became the first player to do so. A brief summary of her WNBA awards over the years: She won the MVP during 2001, 2004 and 2006, the WNBA titles in 2001 and 2002, the Finals MVP in 2001 and 2002 as well, All-WNBA First Team in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002,2003,2004 and 2006. The All-WNBA Second Team in 1998, 1999 and 2005, the All-Star Game MVP in 1999, 2001 and 2002. All Star Games in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. All Decade Team from 1997 to 2006, Defensive Player of The Year in 2004 and 2008, All Defensive First Team in 2006, All Defensive Second Team in 2005 and she won Player of The Week for 14 years in a row, setting the league record.
Olympic Career:
In 1992 during the USA Olympic Trials, Lisa was the youngest person to take part. During her four Olympic appearances, Lisa Leslie has won four gold medals, becoming the first female basketball player to do so. Lisa won gold medals during her appearances with the United States national women’s basketball team in 1996 and 2000. In 2000, Lauren Jackson pulled out her hair extensions after which there developed a severe rivalry between the two.
Additional Information:
Lisa took sometime off from basketball in order to start a family in 2007. After giving birth to a baby girl during the same year, she decided to go back to basketball in 2008.
Apart from playing basketball, Lisa is also a model and is a part of the Wilhelmina modeling agency. She is also an actress and has made a number of guest appearances in “Sister Sister” and “The Jersey”.
