Keynote Speaker Nancy Chen Women, Education, Politics, and Why All Three are Relevant to Community Colleges.

Nancy Chen is part of the U.S. Congressional Record.
When Chen moved to the U.S. from Taiwan to pursue studies at Minnesota State University, Moorhead her political life had not been mapped out for her, but the trajectory had been set. After she earned her Bachelor's in Education, Nancy taught elementary school for five years; at the end of 1970, she and her husband left MN and moved to Naperville, IL where Chen discovered the local community college. Over the years, Chen took a variety of classes, learned more about her DuPage County community, and came to settle comfortably in her new home. She also began to discover her life’s work, and the value of community colleges to both native community members and to recent immigrants.

Nancy’s public service career included serving as Director of U.S. Senator Paul Simon’s Chicago Office and Director of Asian-Pacific American Outreach at President Clinton’s White House Office of Presidential Personnel. She retired from her 13-year post as Midwest Regional Administrator of the Women’s Bureau in U.S. Department of Labor in 2010.

A current member of the Board of Counselors of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, a past appointee by the U. S. Secretary of Defense to serve as a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, Chen also founded and led the National Women's Political Caucus of Greater Chicago and has served as a member of the Illinois Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights.

Her long career in public service and public policy focused on the realities, impact, and economics of women in the workforce: On the occasion of Chen’s retirement, IL Congressional Representative, the Hon. Janice D. Schakowsky, wanted Chen recognized in the official U.S. Congressional Record, noting that Chen was “a fighter for working women.”

“Nancy directed and developed the regional program through collaboration and partnership with women's organizations, employers, unions, and other government agencies in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. Under her leadership, the regional office effectively promoted non-traditional occupations for women, including green jobs and careers in science, technology and engineering, and she helped achieve concrete advances in workplace flexibility and pay equity.”

Entry into the Congressional Record for her past work didn’t stop Chen from forging new alliances and working towards the vision of equity and inclusion that was on her mind long before others had even considered it. In her continued work to improve the lives of those around her, post-retirement-Nancy-Chen took on new challenges and commitments to public policy; During the COVID pandemic, after several anti-Chinese racial incidents in Naperville, Chen initiated and helped pass, in 2020, a resolution by the Naperville City Council to denounce racism and to support Naperville’s Asian American community. In 2022, respecting her long commitment to women in the workforce, Chen founded CAWA (Chinese American Women in Action) an organization whose goals include empowering Chinese American women to lead, create positive change, “to get actively involved in civic and community activities, and to create a real sense of belonging for all of us.”

No stranger to hard work, public education, or public service, Chen’s personal and professional accomplishments have reinforced and expanded her beliefs surrounding the value of education, individual power, and civic action. The proof is in her long-standing record of accomplishment and her continued drive to not sit idle when lives can still be improved through education, policy, and civic engagement. In 2023 Chen was honored with the Adade Wheeler Woman of the Year Award, an award given to those in District 502 who make significant contributions to the personal and professional advancement of women through education,advocacy, and mentoring. In these endeavors, Chen has proven herself a Woman for the Decades.