Tipper Gore to receive
Peabody Distinguished Alumna Award
by Ann Marie Deer Owens
Tipper Gore will receive the 1997 Peabody College Distinguished Alumna Award
during the Family Re-Union VI June 25 at Vanderbilt University.
The wife of Vice President Al Gore will be honored for her outstanding career
achievements and societal contributions during a luncheon on the Magnolia
Circle lawn at Vanderbilt's Peabody College. She earned her master's degree
in psychology from Peabody in 1976.
"Tipper Gore is well known for her advocacy on behalf of children and
also for her tireless work in the areas of mental health and homelessness,"
said James W. Pellegrino, dean of Peabody College, in the announcement of
the award. "Her initiatives and influence have had a global impact
in framing the importance of these concerns."
The Peabody Distinguished Alumnus Award, which was established in 1982,
is given annually to an individual who received an undergraduate or graduate
degree from Peabody College.
Criteria for the award includes recognition at the national or international
level in a chosen field and activities that provide positive reflection
on Peabody College. The recipient is selected by members of the Peabody
Alumni Board from nominations submitted by Peabody alumni and faculty.
Tipper Gore currently serves as mental health adviser to the president.
She is committed to eradicating the stigma associated with mental illness
and substance abuse and continues to work toward ensuring quality, affordable
mental health care.
She also serves as special adviser to the Interagency Council on the Homeless.
She has worked to improve the effective delivery of federal homeless assistance
resources and program coordination at the state and local levels.
In 1990 Tipper Gore founded Tennessee Voices for Children, a coalition to
promote the development of services for children and youth with serious
behavioral, emotional, substance abuse or other mental health problems.
Families for the Homeless, a non-partisan partnership of families that aims
to raise public awareness of homeless issues, was co-founded by Tipper Gore
in 1986.
She also founded an organization to encourage the voluntary labeling of
explicit music lyrics and wrote "Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society,"
a book about parenting and the media.
Born Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson, she was nicknamed Tipper by her mother. She
grew up in Arlington, Va., and received a bachelor of arts degree from Boston
University in 1970.
Tipper Gore worked as a photographer for The Tennessean until her husband
was elected to Congress in 1976. She addressed the November 1993 Peabody
ROUNDTABLE donors society dinner on the influence of educators in people's
lives.
Other recipients of the Peabody Distinguished Alumni Award have included
Edward Boling, president emeritus, University of Tennessee; the late Christine
Coe, former Washington Post reporter and author; Charles Smith, chancellor
of the Tennessee Board of Regents; E. Bruce Heilman, chancellor of the University
of Richmond; Young Shik Kim, chairman of the Korean Teachers Mutual Funds
and former Minister of Education, South Korea; and Hal Ramer, president
of Volunteer State Community College.
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Document Created June 26, 1997
by Billy Kingsley