Former U.S. Sen. Harris Wofford will address the Third Annual Cornell Tradition Convocation in David L. Call Alumni Auditorium in Kennedy Hall Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m.  session with Wofford and student and faculty service leaders, and dinner with student leaders and staff of the Cornell Tradition.

Wofford, who helped launch the Peace Corps in 1961 and is currently CEO of the Washington D.C.-based Corporation for National Service, will speak to the convocation on "Answering the Call of Citizenship: Making a Lifelong Commitment to the Service Tradition." Wofford was a Democrat representing Pennsylvania in the Senate from 1991 to 1994.

The convocation is open to all students in one of the three programs of the Cornell Commitment, including 600 Tradition Fellows, 250 National Scholars and 50 Presidential Research Scholars.

The Cornell Tradition is an alumni-endowed fellowship program that recognizes and rewards outstanding undergraduates. It was established in 1982 with an anonymous gift of $7 million and awards 600 fellowships each year to students who demonstrate significant work experience, campus and/or community service and academic achievement. Through the Cornell Tradition, students can make meaningful contributions to campus life that will enhance their own experiences and those of generations to come.

As students, Tradition Fellows are required to complete 200 hours of paid work during their freshman year and 250 hours during each upperclass year. In 1996-97 the average number of work hours for the students was 312. Tradition Fellows also are required to complete 75 hours of campus or community service during the academic year. In 1996-97 the average number of service hours was 172. Finally, Tradition Fellows are required to maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.3, but they averaged 3.1 during the 1996-97 year.

The Cornell Tradition Alumni Association provides fellows with the opportunity to participate in the Cornell Tradition after they graduate. Tradition alumni provide the next generation of fellows with job opportunities, contribute to the financial support of the Cornell Tradition and return to campus to meet with current fellows and staff members.

Tradition awards can be worth up to $2,500 each year, depending on need, and since the program was started, they have replaced more than $16 million in student loans. Awards are credited directly to students' bursar accounts, reducing the indebtedness individual students may incur while earning a Cornell degree.

Wofford helped Sargent Shriver plan and organize the Peace Corps in 1961 during the Kennedy administration, and he became associate director of the Peace Corps in the Johnson administration. He served as counsel to the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh of the University of Notre Dame on the first U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and was special assistant to President Kennedy on civil rights.

A former president of Bryn Mawr College, Wofford formed and chaired a panel to study the idea of national service in the 1970s. He was Pennsylvania's secretary of labor and industry, where he established and led the Pennsylvania Office of Citizen Service. In the Senate, Wofford helped secure passage of the National Civilian Community Corps and the National and Community Service Trust Act, which created AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National Service, which he now heads.