Norma Paulus

Norma Paulus had a wide-ranging career in state politics. When she was elected Secretary of State in 1976, she was the first women elected to statewide office in Oregon. As Secretary of State, she had to contend with the voting fraud crisis provoked by the Rajneeshee cult in the 1980s. Later, she was nationally lauded for her k-12 education reforms Superintendent of Public Instruction in the 1990s. Paulus showed boundless energy for new challenges, with both a vision for the big picture and a grasp of tiny details.

Her new biography, The Only Woman in the Room: The Norma Paulus Story is a collaborative effort among Pat McCord Amacher, Gail Wells, and Norma Paulus herself, mostly in the form of hours of oral history she recorded in 2010. Amacher and Wells interviewed friends, colleagues, and family members, and had access to the Paulus papers archived at Willamette University and the Oregon Historical Society. These included everything from notes passed by legislators on the floor of the House, to personal correspondence, election profiles, photographs, and Rajneesh court documents.

Paulus's story shows a woman making a real difference in a man’s world without compromising her ideals, passions, or goals. This is a history that should appeal to feminists in any era.… (más)