Sheila Widnall
| Sheila Widnall | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 18th Secretary of the Air Force | |
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In office August 6, 1993 – October 31, 1997 |
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| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Merrill McPeak (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Whitten Peters |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Sheila Marie Evans July 13, 1938 Tacoma, Washington, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | William Widnall |
| Children | William Ann Marie |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Sheila Marie Evans Widnall (born July 13, 1938) is an American aerospace researcher and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She served as United States Secretary of the Air Force between 1993 and 1997, making her the first female Secretary of the Air Force and the first woman to lead an entire branch of the U.S. military in the Department of Defense.
Widnall graduated from MIT with an S.B. in 1960, S.M. in 1961, and Sc.D. in 1964, all in Aeronautics. She was appointed as the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1986 and joined the Engineering Systems Division, was Chair of the Faculty 1979–1981, and has served as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993. In 1988 she was the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
On July 4, 1993, in the wake of the Tailhook scandal, President Bill Clinton announced her nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force. The Senate received her nomination July 22, 1993, and confirmed her two weeks later on August 5, 1993, 183 days after inauguration and 197 after the office became vacant. During her tenure she handled the Kelly Flinn scandal. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985, serving as vice-president from 1998 to 2005 and winning their Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2009.
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