2009 Keynote Dinner Speakers
Margaret Donnelly is the Director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Prior to her appointment, she served three terms in the Missouri House (D-73), focusing much of her work on issues relating to families, seniors and health care. She started her public service career as a member of the Ferguson-Florissant School Board, and was a member of the METRO Board of Commissioners from 1999-2002. She currently serves on the board of directors of the Family Support Network. In 2008, she was a candidate for Missouri Attorney General. In addition to her public service career, Director Donnelly has been an attorney in private practice for 20 years. Donnelly earned her JD and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Saint Louis University.
Marcia Chatelain is the Reach for Excellence Assistant Professor in African-American Studies and Honors at the University of Oklahoma-Norman Honors College. The daughter of a proud Haitian immigrant mother, Marcia is a 1999 Shear Fellow and a 2001 graduate of the University of Missouri where she was named a Truman Scholar. She earned her Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University in 2008. An emerging scholar in the field of girls’ studies, Marcia is the author of several papers, book chapters and articles, and is at work on a book manuscript about African-American girls and the Great Migration.
Past Speakers:
1997 Hon. Barbara Roberts, former Governor of Oregon
1998 Hon. Susan Block, Circuit Judge
1999 Hon. Kay Barnes, Mayor of Kansas City
2000 Phyllis Oakley, former Assistant U.S. Secretary of State
2001 Hon. Laura Denvir Stith, Missouri Supreme Court Judge
2002 Hon. Corrine Wood, Lt. Governor of Illinois
2003 Hon. Mary Rhodes Russell, Missouri Appeals Court Judge
2004 Linda Wertheimer, National Public Radio Senior Correspondent
2005 Hon. Marge Schramm, Chair, MO Highway and Transportation Commission
2006 Hon. Evelyn Murphy, former Lt. Governor of Massachusetts
2007 Hon. Jean Carnahan, former U.S. Senator from Missouri
2008 Hon. Patricia Breckenridge, Missouri Supreme Court Judge
Past Amethyst Award Recipeints:
2005 Kelly Anthony
2006 Allison Howard
2007 Chyanne Lockhart Cardarella
2008 Suzanne Struglinski Broadfield