NEWS RELEASE

Communications and Marketing Office
600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900

For more information, contact:
Phone: 386-226-6157
Fax: 386-226-6158
Contact: Mark DiFabio
Phone: 386-226-7055

Gov. Jon Huntsman to Speak at Northern Utah Center Graduation

Daytona Beach, Fla., April 27, 2006 -- Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. will be presented with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Eagle of Aviation Award on Friday, April 28, at the university’s Northern Utah Center graduation. Huntsman, who will deliver the commencement address, is being recognized for his many contributions to aviation and aerospace.

The ceremony for 16 students will be held at Hill Air Force Base’s Club Hill at 4 p.m. Hill AFB is located near Salt Lake City. The students -- primarily Air Force personnel, Department of Defense civilians, and veterans -- have earned degrees in Aeronautical Science and Professional Aeronautics. The degrees will be conferred by Dr. John Watret, Embry-Riddle’s associate provost.

“These students, through temporary duty assignments, deployments, hardships, and more, have maintained their attitude, altitude, and heading to come in for a smooth landing and earn their degrees,” said Center Director of Operations Jim Medina.

Regarding the presentation of the Eagle of Aviation award, Medina said the governor has been instrumental in promoting the growth of the aviation/aerospace industries in Utah.

“The governor and the 2005 Legislature appropriated $5 million for the purchase of specialized aircraft maintenance equipment, which resulted in recruiting a new workload to Hill and, as a result, added hundreds of new aviation jobs to the base and Utah economy,” Medina said. “More recently, Governor Huntsman’s economic cluster initiative actively engaged in celebrating Utah’s excellence in aviation and aerospace.”

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development, along with several Utah companies, including its leading aerospace companies, recently hosted the Association of Space Explorers. The week-long ASE meeting brought more than 70 international astronauts and cosmonauts to Utah, resulting in worldwide recognition of the state’s aerospace industry. Median said it has been approximately 20 years since this meeting was hosted on U.S. soil.

“Without question, with companies like ATK, Rocky Mountain Composites, Adam Aircraft, Groen Brothers Aviation, Williams International, and many others, Utah has the real potential of being the composite aerospace and aviation capital of the world,” Medina said.

Jon Huntsman Jr. was born on March 26, 1960, in Palo Alto, Calif. He attended the University of Utah and graduated with a bachelor degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

As a business executive, he has held several leadership positions with Huntsman Corp., most recently as chairman and CEO of its holding company. His public service career includes serving as a White House staff assistant to President Ronald Reagan. Under President George H. W. Bush, he was deputy assistant secretary of commerce for trade development, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and U.S. ambassador to Singapore (the youngest U.S. ambassador in a century). Huntsman is fluent in Mandarin. He also served as a deputy U.S. trade representative and U.S. trade ambassador under President George W. Bush.

Gov. Huntsman is a seventh-generation Utahn, and his wife, Mary Kaye, is a first-generation Utahn. Together they have six children, one of whom is adopted from China.

Embry-Riddle offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in aeronautical science, professional aeronautics, and technical management at the Northern Utah Center.

For more information, contact Jim Medina at the Northern Utah Center at (801) 777-0952 or northern.utah.center@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering and meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates more than 32,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Extended Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East, and worldwide through distance learning.