WASHINGTON, DC, June 21, 1999 -- Howard University alumni Dr. Lance E. Wyatt (B.S., 1988) and Gary Hall, Esq. (B.B.A., 1989), have been selected among 16 participants in the 1999-20000 White House Fellows program.

The program, established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, is designed to provide gifted and highly motivated Americans with first-hand experience in governing the nation and a sense of personal involvement in the leadership of society. In addition to working full time, the fellows also participate in an education program that includes off-the-record meetings with high-ranking government officials, scholars, journalists and private-sector leaders as well as travel, both domestic and international, to explore U.S. policy in action.

"Dr. Wyatt and attorney Hall are two examples of the legacy of leadership produced at Howard University," said Howard President H. Patrick Swygert. "Undoubtedly, their exposure to the nation's capital and their keen interest in public service while at Howard proved key to their application to the White House Fellowship program. We are extremely proud of their selection, and confident that their work at the highest level of national government will prove beneficial to our country."

Dr. Wyatt, 32, is senior resident in the Division of General Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received his M.D. As senior resident, the Southern California native oversees all aspects of patient care and supervises junior residents. While a plastic surgery research fellow, he was principal investigator on four research projects focusing on bone development, repair and regeneration. He currently is co-investigator on a Veteran's Administration Merit Review grant that focuses on craniofacial bone formation and aging.

Dr. Wyatt was recently featured in the Spring 1999 issue of Howard Magazine for his role as co-founder and vice president of Health Relief International, a nonprofit medical service organization committed to providing health care worldwide to indigent adults and children.

Hall, also 32, is an attorney with Gardner, Carton & Douglas in his native Chicago. He received his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame Law School and also studied at the Concannon International Law Centre in London, where he worked as an extern with the law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt. At Gardner, he provides legal counsel on a variety of corporate finance matters, including equity and debt public offers, mergers and acquisitions and SEC compliance.

Prior to law school, Hall worked as a senior budget analyst in Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's Office of Budget and Management, and later as a financial officer of real estate for the Department of General Services. While in city government, he led a task force that significantly improved city collections of water and sewer usage fees, served on a  strategy committee to streamline city services and was the youngest person ever selected to participate in the city's Intergovernmental Executive Development Program.

The 16 potential national leaders were chosen from a pool of 29 National Finalists who were selected from hundreds of applicants by eight different panels of prominent citizens across the country. The group of finalists met in early June with the President's Commission on White House Fellowships. The 32 members of the Commission, leaders in their fields, spent three-and-a-half days interviewing and socializing with the finalists, and then recommended 16 of them to President Bill Clinton for appointments.