Rodney Earl Slater was the United States Secretary of Transportation under U. S. President Bill Clinton. Slater graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1977, and received his Juris Doctor degree from The University of Arkansas in 1980. Slater became a research assistant to the State Judiciary Committee of the Arkansas Constitutional Convention in 1979 - 1980, an assistant attorney general for the state of Arkansas in 1980. He was appointed to several state government positions in Arkansas by Bill Clinton. Positions included assistant to the governor between 1983-87, and member of the... Arkansas State Highway Commission between 1987-93. Slater was also the director of governmental affairs for Arkansas State University during that time. After Clinton was elected president, 1993 Slater became the first African-American Director of the Federal Highway Administration. In 1997, Slater was appointed to be the Secretary of Transportation. He was the second African American to hold that post.
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