Anne Holton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anne Holton
|
|
|---|---|
Holton in 2016
|
|
| President of George Mason University | |
| Acting June 20, 2019 – June 30, 2020 |
|
| Preceded by | Ángel Cabrera |
| Succeeded by | Gregory Washington |
| 17th Virginia Secretary of Education | |
| In office January 11, 2014 – July 25, 2016 |
|
| Governor | Terry McAuliffe |
| Preceded by | Javaid Siddiqi |
| Succeeded by | Dietra Trent |
| First Lady of Virginia | |
| In role January 14, 2006 – Template:2010 |
|
| Governor | Tim Kaine |
| Preceded by | Lisa Collis |
| Succeeded by | Maureen McDonnell |
| Chief Judge of the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court | |
| In office 2000–2003 |
|
| Judge of the Richmond Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court | |
| In office June 30, 1998 – 2005 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Anne Bright Holton
February 1, 1958 Roanoke, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives |
|
| Education | |
| Signature |  |
Anne Bright Holton (born February 1, 1958) is an American lawyer and judge. She served as the Virginia Secretary of Education for the state of Virginia from 2014 to 2016. She is married to United States Senator and former Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine. He was the running mate for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election.
Holton was also the First Lady of Virginia from 2006 to 2010. She served as the temporary president of George Mason University from 2019 to 2020.
Contents
Early Life and Family Background
Anne Holton was born in Roanoke, Virginia. Her mother was Virginia Harrison "Jinks" Rogers, and her father was Linwood Holton. Her father was a lawyer and a Republican politician. Anne's paternal grandfather worked for a small railroad company that transported coal.
When Anne was a child, she started a club. This club was all about doing good deeds and helping others. In 1969, her father was elected as the governor of Virginia. He served as governor from 1970 to 1974.
School Days in Virginia
When her father became governor, Anne first attended a well-known grade school. However, a federal court decided that schools in Richmond Public Schools needed to be desegregated. This meant schools could no longer be separated by race. Because of this, Anne and her siblings went to schools that were mostly Black. These schools included Mosby Middle School, which was close to the Virginia Governor's Mansion. Anne later attended Open High School. She then graduated from Langley High School in 1976.
Holton's Brothers
Anne Holton has two brothers. One brother, Woody Holton, is a history professor at the University of South Carolina. Her other brother, Dwight Holton, served as a United States Attorney for the District of Oregon. He held this position from February 2010 to October 2011.
Education, Marriage, and Family Life
_(cropped1).jpg)
Anne Holton graduated with high honors from Princeton University in 1980. She earned a degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. While at Princeton, she was a member of the Colonial Club.
Law School and Meeting Tim Kaine
After Princeton, Holton attended Harvard Law School. This is where she met her future husband, Tim Kaine. They met while working together in a program. This program helped prisoners with their civil rights. While studying law, Holton also worked with the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee. Both Anne Holton and Tim Kaine earned their law degrees from Harvard in 1983.
Marriage and Children
Anne and Tim married in November 1984. Their wedding took place at a Roman Catholic church in Richmond. Anne decided to keep her maiden name, Holton, and Tim supported her choice. They moved to the North Side neighborhood of Richmond. They have lived there ever since. The couple has three children: Nat, born in 1990; Woody, born in 1992; and Annella, born in 1995.
Career Journey
Early Legal Work
After finishing law school, Anne Holton worked as a law clerk. She worked for Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. in Richmond. From 1985 to 1998, she was an attorney for the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society. Here, she helped create a successful program. This program used volunteer lawyers in Richmond.
Becoming a Judge
In the mid-1990s, Holton sometimes filled in as a judge. She worked for the Virginia Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in Richmond. When the court added a fifth permanent judge position, Holton applied. She was then appointed to the role. Anne Holton became a judge on June 30, 1998. This was just one day before her husband, Tim Kaine, became mayor. Holton served as the chief judge of the court from 2000 to 2003.
Holton gave the oath of office to her husband. This happened when he became Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 2002. As a judge, Holton was not allowed to be part of her husband's campaign for governor in 2005. She resigned from her judge position in late 2005. This was after her husband was elected governor.
Virginia's Secretary of Education
After Tim Kaine's term as governor ended, Anne Holton became the director of the Great Expectations program. This program helped children in foster care attend schools in the Virginia Community College System. In 2014, Virginia's governor-elect, Terry McAuliffe, chose Holton to be the state's Education Secretary.
As Education Secretary, Holton wrote in 2015 that too much high-stakes testing in Virginia led to "teaching to the test". She felt this made it hard to find good teachers for schools in low-income areas. Holton supported increasing teacher pay. She also wanted to change the state's high school curriculum. She believed in more training for teachers. Holton also supported Governor McAuliffe's plans for 2016. These plans aimed to change high school graduation rules. They would focus on early college courses and job-ready skills. Holton resigned as Education Secretary on July 25, 2016. She did this to focus on her husband's campaign for vice president.
In February 2017, Governor McAuliffe appointed Holton to the Virginia State Board of Education. As a board member, Holton supported charter schools. She also supported other new ideas in education. She believed that strong charter school plans help children succeed in life. Holton also said that Virginia's way of approving charter schools, which involves local school boards, works well.
Teaching at George Mason University
In May 2017, George Mason University announced that Anne Holton would join their staff. She became a visiting professor at the School of Public Policy and Management. She also taught at the College of Education and Human Development. Additionally, she was a visiting Fellow at the Center for Education Policy and Evaluation.
Interim President of George Mason University
In June 2019, George Mason University announced that Holton would serve as its temporary president. She started this role on August 1, 2019. She remained in that position until Gregory Washington became president on July 1, 2020.
First Lady of Virginia
Anne Holton holds a special place in Virginia's history. She was the second daughter of a Virginia Governor to become First Lady of Virginia. The first was Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph. Holton is also the only person to have lived in the Virginia Governor's Mansion both as a child and as an adult.
As First Lady, she started an initiative called "For Keeps: Families for all Virginia Teens." This program began in January 2007. It focused on finding stable families for Virginia children in foster care. She especially wanted to help older children or those who were harder to place. Holton said she was motivated to fix problems she saw in the foster care system. She had seen these problems during her time as a judge in juvenile court.
During the 2008 United States presidential election, her husband supported Barack Obama early on. Holton led the "Women for Obama" group in Virginia.
Role in the 2016 Presidential Campaign
.jpg)
In 2016, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, chose Anne Holton's husband, Tim Kaine, as her running mate. After her husband was chosen, Holton began traveling across the country. She campaigned for the Democratic ticket in the 2016 election. Right after the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Holton joined Clinton and Kaine on a bus trip. They traveled through Pennsylvania and Ohio. She continued campaigning, sometimes with her husband and sometimes alone, in several states. When campaigning, Holton talked about policies related to childcare and support for small businesses.
During the campaign, some people wondered if Holton would take her husband's Senate seat if he became vice president. Holton said she was not interested in the position. She joked, referring to the Vice President's role as President of the Senate, "I will never let (my) husband be my boss."
Community Involvement and Personal Interests
Anne Holton is involved with many groups. She serves on the boards of Voices of Virginia's Children and the Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation. She is also on the advisory board of Youth-Nex. This is the University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development. It is part of the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development. Holton has also been active in school PTAs.
Holton has received several awards. These include the Metropolitan Richmond Women's Bar Association's Women of Achievement Award in 1995. She also received the YWCA of Richmond's Outstanding Woman of the Year in Law award in 2006. Additionally, she received the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Life Award of Distinction.
Holton and Kaine attend St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Richmond. This church has a mostly African American congregation. Anne Holton has been a longtime clog dancer, a hobby she started in high school.
