CAROLYN (Huntsman) COVINGTON
• Community Service
• Political Activism
Inducted: 2013
CAROLYN (Huntsman) COVINGTON
A strong advocate for innovative and inclusive education, Carolyn Covington earned her master’s degree in Vocational Administration from the University of Alaska Anchorage, and her bachelor’s degree in Business Education from Western State College of Colorado. In addition to a career that spanned teaching roles in Whittier and Palmer and an assistant professor at Mat-Su College (UAA), she worked to procure grant funding that developed a district-wide Diversified Occupations program in the Mat-Su Borough School District and the Skill Center, which provides open-entry, open-exit classes at Mat-Su College. These two programs made it possible for her students, primarily women, to successfully develop office occupations and related skills to complete high school, earn an associate’s degree in Office Occupations and move on to job placement or further education.
A founding member of the Valley Women’s Resource Center, the first resource and shelter in the Mat-Su Borough for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, Covington was also a political activist. She served 29 years as secretary of the Alaska Democratic Party and ran unsuccessfully for the Legislature in 1998. She has served as a board member of many non-profit organizations and continues to be a strong political voice in the community advocating for women, the disabled, and other persons with special needs. She is described as a “model feminist and human being” and was nominated for teaching young women “the way to self-actualization by role-modeling her equal-rights values every waking moment of her life.”
Covington’s service to the community is extensive. In addition to the Valley Women’s Resource Center, she helped to organize the Mat-Su chapter of P-Flag, was a charter member of Mat-Su Coalition for Choice, served on the board and as president of the board of Valley Hospital Association, and served as a board member and secretary of the Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union. For 15 years, Covington has served as secretary-treasurer of Valley Residential Services, which provides housing for low-income and other persons with special needs. Her volunteerism and activism have been invaluable to human rights throughout the Mat-Su.
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