CHICAGO HEIGHTS–(ENEWSPF)–May 13, 2013. Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon will address the Prairie State College graduates and their guests at the 54th annual commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 18. The ceremony is being held at 11 a.m. at the St. James Health and Wellness Institute at 100 197th Place in Chicago Heights.
As Illinois’ 46th lieutenant governor, Simon has served alongside Gov. Pat Quinn since January 2011. She is the second highest executive officer in Illinois, and her mission is to make government more accountable, accessible, and transparent for the people of Illinois. She acts as the governor’s point person on education reform, and is leading efforts to increase college completion, inspire ethical government and protect our military bases, rural areas, and waterways. Simon first visited PSC during a fact-finding tour of the state’s 48 community colleges in her first year in office. The tour was intended to highlight the role community colleges play in reaching the state’s college completion goal. Illinois leaders want 60 percent of working-age adults to hold meaningful college degrees or certificates by 2025, up from 41 percent today.
Before choosing her as his running mate during the 2010 Illinois governor race, Quinn selected Simon to serve on the Illinois Reform Commission, which helped to establish the first political contribution limits in Illinois law. Lt. Gov. Simon also was on the Carbondale City Council from 2003 to 2007.
Simon received a bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg University and a J.D. degree from Georgetown Law School. Following graduation from law school, she worked as a staff attorney at the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation from 1987 to 1992, providing legal services to indigent clients. She was an associate at the firm of O’Neill & Colvin in Carbondale, Illinois from 1992 to 1994, and then served as an assistant state’s attorney in Jackson County, Illinois from 1994 to 1998, where she prosecuted DUIs and domestic battery cases. Along with several other attorneys and with the support of school faculty, Simon helped to inaugurate the Southern Illinois University School of Law Domestic Violence Clinic in 1998. She worked as a clinical assistant professor at Southern Illinois University School of Law from 2000 to 2005 and was promoted to clinical associate professor in 2005. She taught both Lawyering Skills and Family Law in addition to her clinical teaching.
More than 400 students will graduate from PSC with associate degrees and certificates, and approximately 275 graduates will participate in the ceremony. For more information about PSC’s commencement ceremony, contact the Office of Student Affairs at (708) 709-3546.
Source: http://prairiestate.edu
