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Dr.SullivanThe Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is proud to announce the induction of Senior Fellow Dr. Kathryn Sullivan to the United States Government Hall of Fame. It is another in a long list of awards Dr. Sullivan has received for her life-long work and years of public service. Dr. Sullivan is in an elite group of honorees in 2020 which includes, among others, the late Congressman and Civil Rights Leader John Lewis, President George H.W. Bush, renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Astronaut John Glenn, and Former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice.

The Government Executive Media Group established the Hall of Fame in 2019 to “celebrate distinguished civil servants who have demonstrated sustained achievement and unparalleled dedication to public service throughout their careers. Inductees are chosen by a selection committee made up of luminaries in government management and public administration.” They say Dr. Sullivan was a perfect candidate for this honor.
“Kathryn Sullivan embodies exactly what the Government Hall of Fame was created to honor and highlight: selfless public service and a record of accomplishment that serves as a shining example for others to follow. She has literally gone from outer space to the depths of the ocean in her pioneering career,” said Tom Shoop, Executive Vice President and Editor in Chief of the Government Executive Media Group Inc.
“When I was informed by the Government Executive Media Group that I was selected, I went to their web site and saw that I was in completely jaw-dropping company, with both last year’s and this year’s cohort. I have a long record of public service and I am proud of the quality of the work I’ve done, but, it is a long leap from there to my thinking I’m in the same league as John Lewis and Frederick Douglass. I can kind of see how I’m a peer of John Glenn’s because I’ve worked with him some. As much as I adored and admired him as a heroic figure of my childhood astronaut, I had a portion of my life working with him and I could say we are cut from the same cloth,” Dr. Sullivan said. She went on to say, “Mine is not a typical story. I have to say all the early astronauts – the men and their missions – were deeply inspiring to me. But what that led me to was not ‘ I want to be an astronaut and go into space.’ It led instead to a broader motivation, a drive to have a life as inquisitive and adventurous as theirs were.”

Dr. Sullivan is the first woman ever to see the earth from both space and the bottom of the ocean. She was one of the first six woman to join the NASA astronaut corps in 1978 and was the first woman to ever walk in space. She flew on three shuttle missions during her time with NASA, including the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.

“We congratulate Dr. Sullivan on this prestigious honor. Hers is truly is an example of a life lived in public service. She is one of the most fascinating and accomplished women of our time. We are lucky to have her as part of Potomac Institute,” said Dr. Jennifer Buss, CEO of Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.