Carolyn Cheney, member of the ASA executive committee, was honored last month by her alma mater, the Sand Springs School System in Oklahoma, as a 2010 inductee into the Sand Springs Education Foundation Hall of Fame.

Each year, Sand Springs educators, business leaders, students, and community members select two individuals to be included in the Hall of Fame.  Honorees must have made notable accomplishments in their lives and must serve as role models for current students.

On April 8, Carolyn, who has been part of the ASA for the past twenty years and served as its chairwoman six times, attended the induction ceremony, during which attendees celebrated her life through a photo slideshow and detailed biography that highlighted her many achievements, both personal and professional.

Carolyn, who in addition to serving on the ASA’s executive committee represents the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, Domino Sugar, C & H Sugar, and King Ranch, has had a long and distinguished career in Washington.  She first came to Capitol Hill in 1972 as a staffer for Congressman Jim Jones, and since then organized and ran the Commission on Administrative Review; managed a 19-member staff for Congressman Fred Richmond, served as staff director of the House Agriculture Sub-Committee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations and Nutrition; was director of public affairs at Phillip Morris; was vice president of government affairs for Staley Continental (the first women executive in its 75-year history); and served on the board of the Center for National Policy.  She also has served on the boards of American Women in Agriculture, Florida Women in Agriculture, and the Historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC.

In her induction speech, Carolyn noted that Sand Springs is “privileged to have an organization like the Sand Springs Education Foundation that supports and encourages its teachers and children,” and she added that, “there is nothing in the world like being honored by your own hometown…although I have been gone for 37 years, in my heart, Sand Springs is still my home.”