User:Ruthbrarian/Shirley Hill Witt

Career
Witt has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1970–1972) and Colorado College (1972–1974). She was the director of the Rocky Mountain Regional Office of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1975–1983). Witt also served as the Cabinet Secretary for Natural Resources under New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya (1983–1985).

In 1985, she joined the U.S. diplomatic corps. As an employee of the U.S. Information Agency, she worked in South America (Venezuala and Paraguay) and Africa (Somalia and Zambia). She held positions of Foreign Service Officer, Cultural Affairs Officer, Binational Center Director, and Deputy Director of U.S.I.A.

In 2000, Witt was one of the plaintiffs in a sex-discrimination case against the United States Information Agency. The 1,100 women accused the agency of "manipulating the hiring process to exclude women, in some cases resorting to fraud, altering test scores and destroying personnel and test files." Although the agency did not admit to any wrongdoing, each woman was awarded at least $460,000.

Activism
Witt was active in the Indian rights movement during the 1960s. In 1961, she co-founded the National Indian Youth Council and served as its first vice president. She joined protestors in the Puget Sound region in the fight to secure fishing rights guaranteed by treaty. Later, she partnered with Council co-founder Herbert Blatchford to revitalize the Gallup Indian Center in New Mexico, where she was completing her PhD.