Faye Wattleton

Faye Wattleton "is co-founder and president for the Center for the Advancement of Women (CFAW), an independent, women focused, national opinion research, education and policy advocacy corporation. CFAW conducts and sponsors research to identify and understand issues and experiences important to women’s daily lives. CFAW packages its research, to shape attitudes, opinions and public policy through broad based communications platforms. Progress & Perils, CFAW’s landmark report on the attitudes of 21st Century women has received national and international acclaim and broad media coverage. The organization has also been recognized for its innovative research techniques, including interpretive and trend analysis.

"From 1978 to 1992, as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Ms. Wattleton played a leading role in defining the national debate over reproductive rights and health, and in shaping family planning policies and programs around the world. She was the youngest person and first woman named to the presidency of the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary women’s reproductive health provider. Under her leadership, PPFA grew to become the nation’s seventh largest charitable organization, providing medical and educational services to four million Americans each year, through 170 affiliates, operating in 49 states and the District of Columbia and in developing nations through its international division, Family Planning International Assistance.

"Ms. Wattleton holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Ohio State University and a Master of Science degree in maternal and infant care, with certification as a nurse-midwife, from Columbia University. In addition, she has received thirteen honorary doctoral degrees: Bates College (1994); Simmons College (1993); Hofstra University (1992); Haverford College (1992); Meadville Lombard Seminary at the University of Chicago (1992); Bard College (1991); Oberlin College (1991); Wesleyan University (1991); Northeastern University Law School (1990); Long Island University (1990); University of Pennsylvania (1990); Spellman College (1986); and St. Paul’s College (1985). Ms. Wattleton will receive an honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in May of 2007.

"Ms. Wattleton was a 1993 inductee into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Her memoir, Life on the Line, was published, in the fall of 1996, by Ballantine Books."


 * Director, Center for the Advancement of Women
 * Director, United Nations Association of the United States of America
 * Winner of a 1992 Jefferson Awards