Betty Castor
| Betty Castor | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| President of the University of South Florida | |
|
In office 1994–1999 |
|
| Preceded by | Robert Bryan |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Tighe |
| Education Commissioner of Florida | |
|
In office January 6, 1987 – January 3, 1994 |
|
| Governor |
Bob Martinez Lawton Chiles |
| Preceded by | Ralph Turlington |
| Succeeded by | Doug Jamerson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
May 11, 1941 Glassboro, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Donald Castor (1965–1978) Samuel Bell (1989–present) |
| Children | 3 (including Kathy, Karen) |
| Alma mater |
Rowan University (BA) University of Miami (MEd) |
Betty Castor (born Elizabeth Bowe; May 11, 1941) is an American educator and former politician and elected officeholder. Castor was elected to the Florida Senate and the Florida Education Commissioner, and she later served as the President of the University of South Florida, and President of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Her public service included three terms in the Florida State Senate and one term as a Hillsborough County Commissioner. In 2004, she was the Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat of retiring Senator Bob Graham and was narrowly defeated by Mel Martinez.
She is the mother of Kathy Castor, who is the Democratic Congresswoman from the Florida's 11th congressional district. Currently, Betty Castor is the Director of the Patel Center for Global Solutions at the University of South Florida.
Castor was born and grew up in Glassboro, New Jersey, the daughter of Gladys F. (née Wright) and Joseph L. Bowe. Her father was the mayor of Glassboro. She attended Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), earning her bachelor's degree. While at Glassboro she was active in organizing a drive to support education in Uganda. Because of her activities, President John F. Kennedy appointed her to a diplomatic mission to attend the independence celebrations in Kampala, Uganda in 1962. Following her graduation in 1963, she attended Teachers College, Columbia University for a summer and subsequently went back to Uganda and taught secondary school as part of the Teachers for East Africa program. While in East Africa, Castor participated in a project to help lead two dozen African school girls to the summit of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro, the first all-female expedition to accomplish this.
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