F¹rst Graduate

FirstInFamily.org: Success Stories

The following are stories of people in the community who were the first in their families to have graduated college and their contributions to the communities where they live. If you, or someone you know, were the first in your family to have graduated college, we invite you to share your story here in this forum.

Carol Bartz

Carol Bartz is executive chairman of the board of Autodesk, Inc. Bartz was chairman, president and CEO of Autodesk for 14 years and stepped-down in April, 2006. During her tenure, the company diversified its product line and grew revenues from $285 million to $1.523 billion in FY06.

Bartz previously held positions at Sun Microsystems, most recently serving as vice president of worldwide field operations and an executive officer of the company. Before joining Sun, she held product line and sales management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M Corporation. Appointed to President Bush’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Bartz is one of a select group of industry leaders expected to play a key role in shaping and setting the government’s high tech agenda—ranging from R&D funding to new broadband incentives. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Cisco Systems, Network Appliance, and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology. Bartz holds an honors degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin. She was granted an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from William Woods University.

Dr. Robert J. Birgeneau

Robert J. Birgeneau became the ninth chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, on Sept. 22, 2004. An internationally distinguished physicist, he is a leader in higher education and is well known for his commitment to diversity and equity in the academic community. He is also the first member of his family not only to earn a college degree, but graduate from high school as well.

Before coming to Berkeley, Birgeneau served four years as president of the University of Toronto. He previously was dean of the School of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he spent 25 years on the faculty. He is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences, has received many awards for teaching and research, and is one of the most cited physicists in the world for his work on the fundamental properties of materials.

March 18, 2006, Birgeneau received a special Founders Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. President John Hennessy of Stanford University, and filmmaker George Lucas also received the Founders award the same date. Established in the 225th anniversary year of the Academy, this award honors men, women and institutions that have advanced the ideals and embody the spirit of the Academy founders — a commitment to intellectual inquiry, leadership and active engagement.

A Toronto native, Birgeneau received his B.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Toronto in 1963 and his Ph.D. in physics from Yale University in 1966. He served on the faculty of Yale for one year, spent one year at Oxford University, and was a member of the technical staff at Bell Laboratories from 1968 to 1975. He joined the physics faculty at MIT in 1975 and was named chair of the physics department in 1988 and dean of science in 1991. He became the 14th president of the University of Toronto on July 1, 2000.

At Berkeley, Birgeneau holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Physics in addition to serving as chancellor.

(from the UC Berkeley, Chancellor’s website; photo by John Blaustein)

John Edwards

John Edwards was born in Seneca, South Carolina and raised in Robbins, North Carolina, a small town in the Piedmont. There John learned the values of hard work and perseverance from his father, Wallace, who worked in the textile mills for 36 years, and from his mother, Bobbie, who ran a shop and worked at the post office. Working alongside his father at the mill, John developed his strong belief that all Americans deserve an equal opportunity to succeed and be heard.

A proud product of public schools, John became the first person in his family to attend college. He worked his way through North Carolina State University where he graduated with high honors in 1974, and then earned a law degree with honors in 1977 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For the next 20 years, John dedicated his career to representing families and children just like the families he grew up with in Robbins. Standing up against the powerful insurance industry and their armies of lawyers, John helped these families through the darkest moments of their lives to overcome tremendous challenges. His passionate advocacy for people like the folks who worked in the mill with his father earned him respect and recognition across the country.

In 1998, John took this commitment into politics to give a voice in the United States Senate to the people he had represented throughout his career. He ran for the Senate and won, defeating an incumbent Senator.

In Congress, Senator Edwards quickly emerged as a champion for the issues that make a difference to American families: quality health care, better schools, protecting civil liberties, preserving the environment, saving Social Security and Medicare, and reforming the ways campaigns are financed.

Senator Edwards brought a positive message of change to the 2004 presidential primaries. During the primary season he spoke about the two Americas that exist in our country today: one for people at the top who have everything they need and one for everybody else who struggle to get by. This powerful message resonated with voters all across America.

After the Democratic primaries, Senator John Kerry picked Senator Edwards to serve as his running mate in the 2004 general election, and Senator Edwards crisscrossed the country and campaigned tirelessly on Senator Kerry's behalf.

(from JohnEdwards.com)

Hilda L. Solis

First elected in 2000, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis is serving her fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She represents California's 32nd Congressional District, which includes portions of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. Prior to her election to Congress, Solis served eight years in the California state legislature. In August 2000, Solis became the first woman to receive the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues in California.

In 2003, she became the first Latina appointed to the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce where she is the Vice Chair of the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee and a member of the Health and Telecommunications Subcommittees. She is also a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources. In March 2007, Solis was named a member of the newly created House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Solis is Vice Chair of the Democratic Steering & Policy Committee and serves as a Senior Whip, as well as a Regional Whip for Southern California. She is also serving her third term as the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Task Force on Health and the Environment.

In 2007, Solis was appointed to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as the Mexico – United States Interparliamentary Group.

Solis grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, the community she now represents in Congress. The daughter of immigrants, her parents, Raul and Juana, met in a citizenship class in Los Angeles. Starting a family in their new home, they instilled in Solis and her six siblings the importance of family and the values of equality and fairness for all.

Always a trailblazer, Solis was the first in her family to graduate from college. Taking advantage of programs designed to assist families that would not otherwise be able to afford higher education, she graduated from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona with a Bachelors degreee. Later, she earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

While in graduate school, Solis interned in the White House during President Jimmy Carter's administration. She was named Editor-In-Chief of the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs publications and, soon after, was appointed to the Civil Rights Division within the Office of Management and Budget.

(from the Congressional website of Hilda L. Solis and HildaSolis.org)

Alejandro Toledo

Alejandro Toledo was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in 2001 defeating former President Alan García. Toledo came to international prominence after leading the opposition against President Alberto Fujimori. During the five years of the Toledo presidency, the Peruvian economy grew at an average of six percent, one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Inflation averaged 1.5 percent and fiscal deficit went as low as 0.2 percent. After his presidential term, Toledo left Peru and came back to the United States where he was invited by Stanford University to be a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies.

Toledo is one of sixteen children of a family of indigenous campesinos in the town of Cabana, province of Pallasca, Ancash department. He grew up in Chimbote, a city on Peru's northern coast. His father was a bricklayer and his mother was a fishmonger. As a child, he worked shining shoes.

Toledo studied at the local state school, G.U.E. San Pedro. At age 19, with the guidance of members of the Peace Corps, Toledo enrolled at the University of San Francisco on a one-year scholarship. He completed his Bachelor's degree in economics by obtaining a partial soccer scholarship and working part-time pumping gas. Later on, he attended Stanford University, where he received a Master's in Economics, a Master's in Education, and completed his PhD in Education (in 1992) at the Stanford University School of Education. After working abroad, he became a professor of Economics at the Universidad del Pacífico in Peru.

(from WikiPedia)