Nordby, Virginia

Lawyer and University of Michigan administrator with positions as director of the Office of Affirmative Action, policy advisor to the president, university freedom of information officer, associate vice-president for government relations and associate vice-president for student affairs.

Virginia Blomer was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1929. After matriculating at Stanford University, she graduated with distinction receiving a BA in English literature in 1951. As an undergraduate she also studied American history, philosophy and French. Three years later she received a J.D. from the Stanford School of Law. During her years at Stanford, she sat on the Board of Editors of the Stanford Law Review, serving as Article and Book Review Editor during her second and third years. Between her second and third years of law school Blomer married Gordon L. Nordby.

After serving as a research assistant for a University of Michigan law professor during the 1960's, Nordby became a lecturer in the School of Law in 1973, where she developed a course on women and the law. Also at this time, she became a consultant to the Michigan Women's Task Force on Rape. In this capacity she was the principal drafter of the Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct Act, Public Act 266, 1974.

In 1975 she became a policy advisor in the university's Office of the President, a position which she held until 1988. She also served as the university's director of Affirmative Action, beginning in 1980. Nordby was promoted to associate vice president for government relations in 1988. At the time of her appointment she was also named secretary of the University of Michigan and she began serving as the university's chief freedom of information officer. During this period she was actively involved in the formulation and implementation of the university's student code of conduct, parts of which were later declared unconstitutional. After three years in government relations, she became associate vice-president for student affairs. In 1991, Nordby was honored with induction into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame. She retired from the university in 1993.