Rhodes women prominent in U.S. public appointments
Rhodes women have been prominent in recent public appointments in the United States - from California to Rhode Island to the White House.
In January alone -
LOIS QUAM (Minnesota & Trinity 1983) was appointed Executive Director of the Global Health Initiative in the U.S. State Department.
NANCY-ANN MIN DePARLE (Tennessee & Balliol 1979) was appointed Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy at the White House, Washington, DC.
CATHERINE SANDOVAL (California & St Antony's 1984) was appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission.
CARLA PETERMAN (Maryland/DC & New College 1999) was appointed to the California Energy Commission.
GINA M. RAIMONDO (Rhode Island & New College 1993) took office as General Treasurer of Rhode Island.
VIRGINIA SEITZ (Delaware & Brasenose 1978) was nominated by President Obama to be Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, in the U.S. Department of Justice. 
They join other Rhodes women in public service, such as Susan Rice (Maryland/DC & New College 1986), who is the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (California & Balliol 1981), who is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council, and Lissa Muscatine (California & Wadham 1977), who is a Senior Adviser and Director of Speechwriting in the U.S. Department of State.
In another public contribution in January, Heather Wilson (New Hampshire & Jesus 1982), who represented New Mexico as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2008, wrote for The Washington Post on what she sees as the declining effectiveness of U.S. liberal arts education in developing breadth and critical thinking in undergraduates. For Dr Wilson's article, click here.
In early February, Professor Caroline Hoxby (nee Minter) (Ohio & Magdalen 1988), visiting Oxford from her position at Stanford University, delivered the Clarendon Lectures in Economics in Oxford, speaking on 'The role of markets in education'. Her lectures discussed 'The potential of markets in primary and secondary education', 'The complex and increasingly global market for elite higher education', and 'Competition and autonomy in higher education'.
In other public appointments early in the year, another Rhodes Scholar, Bruce Reed (Idaho & Lincoln 1982), was appointed Chief of Staff to U.S. Vice-Pr
esident Joe Biden.
These are just some of the ways in which Rhodes Scholars are contributing to public service and debate, and to fighting 'the world's fight'.
For details of other recent appointments of Rhodes Scholars, click here.
For short videos in which diverse Rhodes alumni reflect on the Scholarship and on 'fighting the world's fight', click here.
Postcript, March 2011: More recently, MICHELLE GAVIN (Arizona & Lincoln 1996) has been nominated by President Obama to be the U.S. Ambassador to Botswana, and Heather Wilson has announced that she is seeking the Republican nomination in New Mexico for the U.S. Senate.
