NCCWSL Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony

Held in conjunction with the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, the Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony pays tribute to women leaders who have made extraordinary contributions in their professions or their communities. The award winners are leaders in their fields, innovators of unique programs and services, and prime examples of lifelong commitments to promoting equity for women and girls everywhere. The Women of Distinction Awards Ceremony not only honors excellence, but also ingenuity and the ability to overcome barriers that still exist for women. Women selected for this honor represent a number of different professional fields and the diversity of personal characteristics and life experiences of women.

If you are not attending the conference, please consider joining us for an evening of inspiration from five nationally-prominent women, followed by a dessert reception and a chance to mingle with the honorees. Tickets will be available when registration opens in Spring of 2010. For more information, please email at nccwsl@aauw.org or phone 800/326-2289.

2009 Women of Distinction

Diane Rehm
Diane Rehm is the host of The Diane Rehm Show, a weekly radio program distributed nationally and internationally by NPR and NPR Worldwide. Rehm began her radio career as a volunteer producer at WAMU 88.5 in 1973. She became the host of WAMU's Kaleidoscope in 1979, which became The Diane Rehm Show in 1984.

Today, her weekly U.S. audience is estimated at 1.7 million, and in 2007, her show was named the 10th most powerful program in public radio, the only live call-in talk show to make the top 10.

Rehm is also the best-selling author of a memoir, Finding My Voice, and Toward Commitment, a book about marriage that she co-authored with her husband, John Rehm.

She was named a Paul H. Nitze Senior Fellow at St. Mary's College of Maryland and was inducted into the Class of 2004 Hall of Fame by the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She was also honored as a fellow by the Society of Professional Journalists, the highest honor the society bestows on a journalist.

In 2006, Rehm was the inaugural recipient of the Urbino Press Award. She has been awarded honorary degrees from the Virginia Theological Seminary and American University. In 2008, the University Club of Washington, D.C., honored her with The Distinguished Washingtonian Award in Literature and the Arts.

Anucha Browne Sanders
Anucha Browne Sanders, the senior associate athletic director of marketing at the University at Buffalo, is known for her courage both on and off the basketball court. As a student at Northwestern University, Browne Sanders excelled at the sport, setting 24 school records and leading the nation in scoring her senior year by averaging 30.5 points per game. She was Northwestern's first All-American athlete and she was twice named Big Ten Player of the Year. In addition, Browne Sanders was the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer, racking up 2,037 points over her Northwestern career.

After graduating, Browne Sanders worked for IBM for 11 years before taking a job with the New York Knicks, where she became one of the highest-ranking female executives in the NBA. In 2006, she was fired from that job after complaining about sexual harassment. Browne Sanders sued Isaiah Thomas, coach of the Knicks, and Madison Square Garden for sexual harassment and retaliation. In 2007, she reached a multi-million dollar settlement with the organization.

In 2003, Browne Sanders was named to the Sports Business Journal "Forty Under Forty" list of 40 top sports professionals under the age of 40. In 2004, the Miracle Makers, a nonprofit family and children's services group in New York, honored her with a Miracle Award, and she continues to engage in diverse philanthropic work.

As the senior associate athletic director of marketing at the University at Buffalo, Browne Sanders is responsible for marketing revenue sports and overseeing ticket operations, promotions, and corporate sales efforts. In addition, she serves as the university's senior woman administrator, overseeing issues of gender equity in athletics.

Martine Rothblatt
Martine Rothblatt has led the charge in developing satellite technology that is widely used today. An ambitious and well-rounded researcher, committed to making a difference, she successfully pioneered satellite communications and biotechnology, helped the National Academy of Sciences maintain quiet zones for radio astronomy, and authored five books, which range in subject from satellite communications to gender studies to world ethics.

Rothblatt created two satellite communications industries, long-distance vehicle tracking, and digital radio broadcasting. In addition, the world's largest satellite system, PanAmSat, began with her master's thesis of the same name.

In 1996, Rothblatt founded a new biotechnology company, United Therapeutics, which became the fastest growing company in the Washington, D.C., area. As chair and CEO of United, she has led the efforts to make new medicines for pulmonary arterial hypertension and ovarian cancer available. A branch of United operates a nationwide telemedicine network and provides the cardiac monitoring equipment used aboard the International Space Station. Rothblatt also led the International Bar Association's successful 1998 effort to draft a human genome treaty for the United Nations.

Rothblatt graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1981. She earned a law degree and a master's of business administration from the UCLA Schools of Law and Management, respectively, and her doctorate in medical ethics from the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary College, University of London. She is a member of the District of Columbia bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition, Rothblatt and her partner of 25 years have started two public nonprofit foundations, the PPH Cure Foundation and the World Against Racism Foundation.

Melissa Poe Hood
At the age of nine, Melissa Poe Hood took on the responsibility to protect her local environment and to improve the community in which she lived. Alarmed by a television show that depicted a dim future due to pollution, Hood decided she needed to do something to help the environment and wrote a letter to then-President George H.W. Bush.

What started as a simple letter resulted in a worldwide children's environmental movement and an international nonprofit organization called Kids For A Clean Environment or Kids F.A.C.E. Through Hood's efforts, the letter was reproduced on more than 250 billboards across the country. She appeared on network television shows including the Today Show and Good Morning America. She took her campaign directly to the people, children and adults, by traveling across the United States to speak to school children, civic organizations, and business leaders about environmental concerns. The response to her campaign was so great that over the next 20 years, Hood engaged more than 350,000 members in community service activities and spearheaded campaigns such as One In A Million, which worked to have one million trees planted by children nationwide. Hood is credited with inspiring, empowering, and leading a nation of young people to take the initial steps toward stewardship and volunteerism early in life.

Hood has received many distinctions for her efforts, including Women's Tylenol Commitment to Care, The National Junior League's Elizabeth Award, Disney's International Eco Hero, Diet Coke Women at their Best, and the Albert Schweitzer Environmental Youth Award.

Hood graduated from Wake Forest University and went to work for her congressman in Washington, D.C., and later for the Nature Conservancy. She and her husband currently reside in Hood's hometown of Nashville with their son James. In addition to her role as the founder of Kids F.A.C.E., Hood is the editor and publisher of a bimonthly trade publication. Twenty years after her first letter, Hood still receives and responds to letters from children across the world who share the same inspiration for service and care for their natural community. She hopes to inspire the next generation of youth no matter how big the problem may pose ... after all, a simple action can make a big difference.

Tammy Duckworth
L. Tammy Duckworth currently serves as the assistant secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Veterans Affairs. An Obama appointee, Duckworth directs the department's public affairs, internal communications, and intergovernmental relations. She also oversees programs for homeless veterans, consumer affairs, and special rehabilitative events.

She is serving as a major in the Illinois National Guard and was previously deployed to Iraq, where, as a captain, she was assistant operations officer for a 500-soldier aviation task force. She also served as a logistics officer and company commander. In 2004, as a helicopter pilot flying combat missions, Duckworth suffered grave injuries when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. She lost both legs and partial use of one arm in the attack.

Duckworth has also served as the appointed director of the state veterans office in Illinois in 2006. Her previous managerial experience includes coordinating the Center for Nursing Research at Northern Illinois University and working for Rotary International’s Asia-Pacific region from 2002 to 2004.

Duckworth earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii and a master's degree from George Washington University. Born in Thailand, she is the daughter of a U.S. Marine who fought in Vietnam. She is married to Iraq war veteran and National Guard officer Major Bryan Bowlsbey.

Meet all past Women of Distinction »