User:Higginsddg76

Robin L. Higgins was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on April 30, 2001 and confirmed by the Senate May 24, 2001.

In this role, she was responsible for the National Cemetery Administration, directing the operation and maintenance of 120 national cemeteries and overseeing other memorial-related programs, including providing headstones and gravesite markers, administering a federal grants program to states to establish state veterans cemeteries, and issuing Presidential Memorial Certificates to survivors of honorably discharged veterans.

Prior to her nomination, Mrs. Higgins served as Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, appointed by Governor Jeb Bush in January 1999. As the Governor’s chief advisor on veterans’ issues, she led the state agency responsible for providing Florida veterans and their dependents with access to federal and state benefits to which they may be entitled.

A native of the Bronx, N.Y., Mrs. Higgins earned her bachelor’s degree from State University of New York at Oneonta, and a master’s from C.W. Post College of Long Island University. She also studied at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In May 2003 she was granted an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the State University of NY. Mrs. Higgins is a 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Under the former 41st President Bush Administration, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Veterans’ Employment and Training at the U.S. Department of Labor. While there, she served on the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Women Veterans and the Department of Defense’s Defense Conversion Commission.

Mrs. Higgins is the widow of Colonel William R. (Rich) Higgins, a Marine officer taken captive by terrorists in Lebanon in 1988, and later murdered. Since then, she has become an internationally known speaker on surviving adversity and terrorism. Her book, Patriot Dreams - The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins was published in time for the commissioning of the USS Higgins (DDG 76), a Navy destroyer named for her husband.

Mrs. Higgins is the recipient of numerous awards, including the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs Exceptional Service Award, Marine Corps League’s Dickey Chapelle Award, American Legion Auxiliary’s Public Spirit Award, and American Academy of Physician Assistants Veterans Caucus Award.

In September 2002, Mrs. Higgins left government service to pursue family and personal interests.