President of the Minnesota State Senate Sandra Pappas
Named 2003 Alumna of the Year, Sandra Pappas has served the state of Minnesota with years of public service. She was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1984, where she served three terms. In 1990, the Hibbing native was elected to the Minnesota State Senate, where she continues to serve District 65. She is an activist and is involved in the environmental and women’s movements, and received her Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Pappas hasn’t forgotten college students’ needs. She championed numerous efforts to ensure the exceptional quality of Minnesota’s institutions and affordable access to its colleges and universities. She carried a number of initiatives including funding for the University of Minnesota/Mayo Biosciences Partnership; the introduction of an accountability framework for the state’s higher-ed institutions and the Minnesota Dream Act, which would allow all graduates of Minnesota high schools, including the children of undocumented immigrants, to attend Minnesota colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates. She has increased funding for first-generation college students, increased childcare grants, and college access programs.
Learn more about her current service by visiting her official webpage.
More Minnesota Leaders