HHS official speaks at dinner

Addressing the Third Annual Career Dinner for women at the Faculty Club Thursday night, Undersecretary of Health and Human Services Constance McNeely Horner told members of the audience that they should concentrate on family ties. Horner, a 1964 University graduate, also stressed the need for both men and women to stop focusing on earning money and to spend more time strengthening ties with the family, neighborhood and. "The work of rearing children for both men and women is the single most important work that this country faces right now," Horner said. "We'll go under if we don't correct this." She urged the women in the audience to not "get addicted to power," and to make their families their primary concern. Horner told audience members that the university is a "real laboratory for leadership," and urged them to take advantage of it. She also urged students to take advantage of the changes that have occured in the workplace since she began to pursue her careers in the mid-1960s. "When I graduated from Penn, it wasn't appropriate to find a career," said Horner. "It was appropriate to find a job until you got married." Students, faculty and administrators praised Horner's speech and said she gave them encouragement for the future. Susan Catherwood, chairperson of the Board of Overseers at the University Museum, called the presentation "wonderfully balanced." The Annual Career Dinner was started three years ago by Alvin Shoemaker, chairperson of the Board of the Trustees, in order to enhance the quality of life for women at University, according to organizers.

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