6/29/01 -
Newly Appointed FCC Commissioner to Speak at TDI Conference
TDI PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 29, 2001
CONTACT: James D. House - jimhouse@tdi-online.org
Newly Appointed FCC Commissioner to Speak at TDI Conference
SILVER SPRING, MD -- TDI announces today that Michael J. Copps, one of
President George W. Bush's newly appointed Commissioners at the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC), will come and give remarks FCC at TDI
14th Biennial International Conference and Expo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Commissioner Michael Copps will present his remarks Tuesday July 10, 2001
9:30 a.m. at the Sioux Falls Sheraton Hotel and Convention Center in Sioux
Falls, South Dakota, where TDI's Conference takes place.
Executive Director Claude L. Stout remarked, "We are extremely pleased to
have Commissioner Copps come visit with us at the Conference. His special
appearance at the Conference signifies the FCC's ongoing commitment and
sensitivity to the needs of people with hearing loss in telecommunications
and media. We look forward to exchanging notes with him on our hopes,
needs, and issues pertaining to access and opportunities that are possible
for us as consumers in the promising, yet uncharted future in the Digital
Age."
Following his swearing in on May 31, 2001, Commissioner Copps issued this
statement: "I am enormously excited at the opportunity to serve as an FCC
Commissioner. To be an active participant in the deliberations of the FCC
as the telecommunications revolution transforms our lives and remakes our
world is a real privilege. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the
Commission, with the Congress, with industry and government and all the
many other stakeholders to make sure that our nation continues to lead and
prosper in this telecommunications revolution."
Copps served until January 2001 as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for
Trade
Development at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was previously
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Basic Industries. Copps came to
Washington in 1970, joining the staff of Senator Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and
serving for over a dozen years as Chief of Staff. He has also held positions at
Collins and Aikman Corporation and the American Meat Institute. Before coming
to Washington, Copps was a professor of U.S. History at Loyola University of the
South. Copps earned a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and received a B.A. from Wofford College. His term as Commissioner will expire
on June 30, 2005.
For the latest information about the Conference, go to TDI's website at
www.tdi-online.org and click on the 2001 Conference logo.
About TDI - Also known as Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc., TDI is a non-
profit corporation that promotes equal access to telecommunications and media
for individuals who are deaf, late deafened, hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind. Since
1968, TDI has successfully advocated for federal legislation such as the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the
Television Decoder Act, both of 1990, as well as other legislation and policies
mandating greater access to TTY's, captioning and other telecommunication and
media technologies. In between its biennial conferences, TDI publishes annually,
a National Directory & Resource Guide, commonly known as The Blue Book, a
popular resource book for people with hearing loss, as well as The GA-SK
quarterly news magazine. TDI's Home Office is at 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 604, in
Silver Spring, MD 20910. We are available by phone at 301-589-3786 or by TTY at
301-589-3006. Our fax number is 301-589-3797 and our web site is at: www.tdi-online.org
