CHAIRMAN OF FCC WILL KEYNOTE COMMENCEMENT AT SOUTHEAST

Alfred C. Sikes, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will present the spring commencement address May 9 at Southeast Missouri State University.

As chairman, Sikes has established an FCC International Communications Office for global markets, expanded access to communications for handicapped and disabled Americans, and spearheaded adoption of telephone rate regulation reforms. He was appointed FCC chairman in August 1989.

During commencement, scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Show Me Center, Cynthia M. Fox of Mount Vernon, Ill.; Taryn N. Johnson of Dexter; Laura J. Stidham of Cape Girardeau; and Bill F. Vaughn of Piedmont will lead the class of 619 undergraduates. Each of the four undergraduate students has achieved a cumulative 4.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.

In addition, 55 graduate students will receive degrees. Thirty-one of these students will graduate with academic distinction.

Ninety-three undergraduates and 31 graduate students will be honored at an Honors Convocation at 11 a.m. May 9 in Academic Hall Auditorium. The undergraduates have earned at least a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. The graduate students have achieved at least a 3.8 average.

Bernice Coar-Cobb, associate professor in the College of Education at Southeast, will speak at the honors ceremony.

Sikes served as U.S. Commerce Department assistant secretary and administrator of the National Communications and Information Administration from 1986 to 1989. He also previously served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Missouri.

He was head of Sikes and Associates Inc., a broadcast management and media consulting firm in Springfield, Mo. He was campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond's 1972 campaign for governor and was appointed to Bond's cabinet.

Sikes, a native of Southeast Missouri, received degrees from Westminster College and the University of Missouri Law School.