STRAYHORN TO ADDRESS PANOLA COLLEGE GRADUATES

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn will address graduates and guests at the 58th annual Panola College Commencement. Graduation exercises will take place Friday, May 19, at 8:00 p.m. in the Arthur M. Johnson Gymnasium at the Carthage Campus. 

Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is a Texas Independent candidate for governor in 2006. She was the first woman in history elected Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. She was re-elected Comptroller in 2002 with the highest vote total of any winning statewide elected official in Texas and more votes than any woman candidate nationwide of either party.

In 2004 the Mental Health Association in Texas selected Strayhorn as the recipient of the Texas Champion Award. Last year she was given the University of Texas at Austin Distinguished Alumnus Award. She is the recipient of the Texas Classroom Teachers Association's Friend of Education Award. She also was selected as the first Friend of Texas Taxpayers chosen by Citizens for a Sound Economy. A longtime friend of law enforcement, Strayhorn is a lifetime honorary member of the Austin Police Association.

Strayhorn began her career as a public school teacher. Her lifelong record of achievement and public service is rooted in her
passion for education. 

Often called a trailblazer, Strayhorn has a resume full of "firsts" - First woman president of the Austin School Board, and first 

woman president of the Austin Community College Board of Trustees; first woman mayor of Austin, and the only mayor elected 

for three successive terms; first woman in history elected Texas Railroad Commissioner - and was re-elected in 1996 with the 

highest vote total in a statewide contested race.

Comptroller Strayhorn is the daughter of the late Page Keeton, the revered long-time Dean of the University of Texas Law

School. He instilled in her at a very early age the importance of public service. She not only learned that lesson from her dad, 

she passed it on to her children. Her eldest son, Dr. Mark McClellan, is the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and 

Medicaid Services. He previously served as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Her twin sons, Brad 

McClellan and Dudley McClellan are both attorneys. Brad is a former Assistant Attorney General for Texas and is now 

the manager of his mother’s campaign for governor in 2006, and Dudley is Assistant General Counsel for the State Bar of 

Texas. Her youngest son, Scott McClellan, is the former Press Secretary to the President of the United States. 

Strayhorn is a native Texan and a government honors graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She is married to Ed 

Strayhorn, the founder and president of the oldest tennis court construction business in Texas. They are the proud parents 

of five grown sons, and proud grandparents of five young granddaughters.

“We are delighted to have Comptroller Strayhorn on our campus,” said Dr. Gregory Powell, President of Panola College. 

“In September 2005, when I invited Mrs. Strayhorn to be our commencement speaker, she quickly said yes.  Given her 

longstanding commitment to community colleges and her status as a statewide elected official, I anticipate that this will be 

an interesting and enjoyable event that our graduates and guests will not soon forget.”