Barbara O'Connor
President, AAUW Educational Foundation
Barbara O’Connor was elected president of the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation in 2005. O’Connor has worked as an educator whose professional and volunteer experiences enabled her to hone her leadership skills in diverse settings. A native of Illinois, she became a world traveler after her graduation from the University of Illinois with a degree in secondary social studies education. During her nearly 27 years abroad, O’Connor’s life has been marked by her commitment to equity no matter where she has lived. She joined AAUW in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1979 and has been an active volunteer for the Educational Foundation as a contributor, fundraiser, branch Educational Foundation chair, and Educational Foundation chair on the board of AAUW of Florida. She has served as an appointee to the Sarasota County Advisory Committee on the Status of Women since 1995. O’Connor has remained active in educational issues as co-president of the University of Illinois Alumni Association and is a member of many organizations, including UNIFEM, the Virginia Gildersleeve Fund, and the Florida Women’s Consortium. .

Elena Silva
Director of Research, AAUW Educational Foundation
Elena Silva is Director of Research for the AAUW Educational Foundation. For the past 10 years, Silva has researched, taught, and developed educational programs and curriculum for universities, community colleges, and national and community-based nonprofits. Previously, she directed a national youth leadership program for the ASPIRA Association in Washington, D.C., for which she served as a board member for the National and Community Service Coalition and as a representative for the U.S. Senate Task Force on Hispanic Education. She has authored and presented research papers for numerous national and local forums, including the Coalition for Essential Schools and the American Educational Research Association. Silva holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master’s degree and doctorate in education from University of California, Berkeley, where she specialized in socio-cultural studies and school policy reform.

Ruth Z. Sweetser
President, American Association of University Women
Ruth Sweetser was elected president of the more than 100,000-member American Association of University Women in 2005. She has been a member of the Gender Equity Advisory Committee of the Illinois State Board of Education since 1996. Appointed to the Commission on the Status of Women in Illinois in 1997, she chaired the Education and Training Working Group. Sweetser is director of Professional Learning and Business Relations, in the Graduate College at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In this position she works to strengthen relations between the university and business and industry. She develops programs to meet needs of industry; represents the university in areas of education and professional development, training and work force preparation, and research collaboration; and manages relationships with companies. Sweetser has a bachelor’s degree from Hope College and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, where she was a Ford Foundation Fellow.