Chambers, Marjorie, 1923-2006

Teacher, civic leader, and official in government and nonprofit organizations, Marjorie Bell Chambers (1923-2006) was born in New York City. A student of history, she was educated at Mount Holyoke College (A.B. 1943), Cornell University (M.A. 1948), and University of New Mexico (Ph.D. 1974). She married physicist William H. Chambers in 1945; they moved in 1950 to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where they raised their four children.

Chambers was a lifelong advocate for women's rights, serving as chair of the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs (1976-1980), as acting chair and vice-chair of the President's Advisory Committee for Women (1979-1980), and as a national spokesperson for the adoption of the Equal Rights Amendment. She was the first Republican woman in New Mexico to run for Congress (1982) and for Lieutenant Governor (1986). Among the many organizations in which she served in an official capacity are the Girl Scouts, the League of Women Voters, and the American Association of University Women (national president, 1975-1979). Chambers had a long career in higher education, serving on the faculties at the University of New Mexico and the Union Institute Graduate College, and as the first woman president of Colorado Women's College (1976-1978) and as Interim President of Colby-Sawyer College (1985-1986).