Allan, Virginia R., 1916-1999

Virginia R. Allan has had a distinguished career as an educator, business woman, civic leader, and national and international stateswoman. Born October 21, 1916 in Wyandotte, Michigan, Allan earned her A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of Michigan in 1939 and 1945, respectively, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Her education prepared her to be an educator and, with the exception of a year spent on a World War II assembly line, it was as a teacher of English in the Dearborn and Detroit school systems that Allan devoted the first part of her career. A well respected and innovative educator, Allan pioneered the Job Upgrading Program, which was designed to help drop-outs return to school or otherwise find meaningful employment. After establishing four job upgrading centers, Allan in 1953 was appointed assistant principal of Redford High School. In 1955, she left teaching to become co-owner and executive vice-president of Cahalan Drug Stores, Inc. in Wyandotte.

As a teacher and businesswoman, Allan developed an interest in local and state affairs, and during the early 1960s became especially active in the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, serving in a series of increasingly responsible positions, as membership chairman, third, second, and first vice-president, and in 1964, as national president. With the BPW, Allan became a vocal advocate of women's rights, supporting and encouraging the role of women in the business world. She helped organize the National Federation's Young Career Women's Program, participated in numerous women's leadership conferences, and originated the concept of a nationwide network of State Commissions on the Status of Women. In addition to her BPW work, Allan in 1964 was appointed Regent of Eastern Michigan University, a position she held for ten years.

In 1969, Allan was named chair of President Nixon's Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities and also served eight years on the Citizens' Advisory Council on the Status of Women. In 1972, she was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs where she served until the beginning of the Carter Administration. During her five years in the Department of State, Allan was a strong proponent of human rights, especially the rights of women, both nationally and internationally. In her official capacity she helped found and support the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year (1975) and the Decade for Women (1975-85). This was part of her more general responsibility to foster public/private cooperation in U.S. foreign relations. Allan served both as liaison with Nongovernmental Organizations for the International Women's Year Commission, and as member of the First United Nations World Conference for IWY which met in Mexico City in 1975. Allan later attended both the Mid-Decade Conference for Women in 1980 in Copenhagen (as an NGO representative), and the World Conference of the U.N. Decade for Women in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985. Allan was the only person to have attended all three of the UN World Conferences on Women. A tireless worker while in the State Department, Allan was also a delegate to UN Seminars on Women's Economic Participation in their Countries in 1970 in Moscow and in 1973 in Libreville, Gabon.

From 1977 to 1983, Allan accepted a position as special assistant to the dean for women's studies at George Washington University where a scholarship fund in her name was established to promote the study of women's issues. During her years at George Washington University, she organized a series of seminars and fundraisers which focused on the achievements of working women worldwide. In the early 1980s she was also an advocate of gender equality in education as the co-chair of the Citizen's Committee on Women's Education and as the shadow president of National Coalition for Woman and Girls in Education. In the 1980s she was the president of the U.S. Committee for the UN Fund for Women, Inc. (UNIFEM).

Allan has received many honors during her life, including a place in the Michigan Woman's Hall of Fame, which she helped found; honorary doctorates from Olivet College, Eastern Michigan University, and Central Michigan University. She was also a participant in the Old Masters Program at Purdue University in 1964. Today she remains active in local women's and professional affairs.

From the guide to the Virginia R. Allan papers, 1932-1995, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)