State Senator Mamie Locke of Hampton, Virginia, was chosen as chair of the Southern Regional Education Board Legislative Advisory Council at a meeting of the group last week.

A Virginia state senator since 2004, Senator Locke chairs the senate rules committee and is a member of the education and health, finance and appropriation, rehabilitation and social services, and general laws and technology committees. She also chairs the finance and appropriations higher education subcommittee and the education and health higher education subcommittee. 

Locke was a member of SREB’s Commission on Computer Science and was appointed to the Legislative Advisory Council in 2014. She succeeds State Representative John “Bam” Carney of Kentucky as chair of the group.

She is a professor and former dean at Hampton University. She earned her doctoral degree in political science at Atlanta University and her bachelor’s degree at Tougaloo College.
 
“I am eager and excited to begin this journey as chair of the Legislative Advisory Council. Working in this ‘new normal’ provides many challenges for education, but working together, we can do what is best for students across our region,” said Locke.

SREB’s Legislative Advisory Council meets regularly to address current education issues and provides guidance for Board programs including SREB’s Legislative Work Conference, the nation’s oldest annual legislative forum on education issues.

“We are thankful for Senator Locke’s commitment to improving education, from pre-K through Ph.D.,” said SREB President Stephen Pruitt. “This kind of leadership makes a real difference in improving opportunities for each and every student in Virginia and across the South.”