{{Short description|American educator, historian, and politician (1923–2006)}} {{Infobox person | name = Marjorie Bell Chambers | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Marjorie Bell | birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|03|11}} | birth_place = New York City, NY | death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|08|25|1923|03|11}} | death_place = Los Alamos, NM | other_names = | education = Mount Holyoke College, Cornell University, University of New Mexico | occupation = historian, politician | years_active = 1975-1990 | known_for = first woman to run for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico, national president of the American Association of University Women, president of Colorado Women's College and Colby-Sawyer College | notable_works = }} '''Marjorie Bell Chambers''' (March 11, 1923 &ndash; August 25, 2006) was an American educator, historian, and politician. She was the first woman to run for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico, a national president of the American Association of University Women, and the president of two colleges (Colorado Women's College and Colby-Sawyer College).<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title=Marjorie Bell Chambers Dead at 83 |url=https://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/apmarjorie08-25-06.htm |accessdate= December 3, 2019 |work=Albuquerque Journal |agency=Associated Press |date= August 25, 2006}}</ref>

==Biography== Chambers was born on March 11, 1923, to Kenneth and Katherine Bell (née Totman) in New York City.<ref name="AAUW">{{cite web |title=Marjorie Bell Chambers |url=https://aauw-nm.aauw.net/files/2013/06/MBChambers-Bio.pdf |website=AAUW New Mexico |accessdate= December 15, 2019}}</ref> After surviving tuberculosis during childhood, she married physicist William H. Chambers in 1945.<ref name="AAUW" /> She and William relocated their family to New Mexico in 1950 when William became employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.<ref name="AAUW" /> The couple had four children and continued to live and work mostly in New Mexico for the remainder of their lives.<ref name="obit" />

===Death and legacy=== Chambers died in August 2006, after a long illness.<ref name="obit" /> The New Mexico state chapter of the American Association of University Women created the AAUW-NM Ingenious Ideas Award inspired by Chambers and fellow long-time mentor Gloria Cordova.<ref>{{cite web |title=AAUW-NM Ingenious Ideas Award |url=https://aauw-nm.aauw.net/awards/iia/ |website=AAUW New Mexico |accessdate= December 15, 2019}}</ref> The University of New Mexico Foundation created the Endowed Faculty Award for Excellence in History in honor of Chambers and her husband, William.<ref>{{cite web |title=William H. and Marjorie Bell Chambers Endowed Faculty Award for Excellence in History |url=https://www.unmfund.org/fund/william-h-and-marjorie-bell-chambers-endowed-faculty-award-for-excellence-in-history/ |website=University of New Mexico Foundation |accessdate= December 15, 2019}}</ref>

==Academic career== Chambers received her B.A. in history and political science from Mount Holyoke College in 1943 and her Master's degree from Cornell University in 1948.<ref name="AAUW" /> She then earned her Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico in 1974.<ref name="AAUW" />

Chambers was one of 60 women who gathered in (ironically) the men's Residence Hall at LANL on September 13, 1950, to found the Los Alamos branch of the American Association of University Women.<ref>{{cite web |title=History |url=https://losalamos-nm.aauw.net/about/history/ |website=AAUW Los Alamos (NM) Branch |accessdate= December 21, 2019}}</ref> She served as president of that branch, of the New Mexico Division, and finally as national President of the Association from 1975 to 1979.<ref name="AAUW" />

==Political career== Chambers served as an adviser to four presidents and 10 governors of New Mexico in multiple appointed positions and commissions.<ref name="obit" /> She chaired the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs under President Gerald Ford and the Committee for Women under President Jimmy Carter.<ref name="obit" /> Chambers was elected to the Los Alamos County Council in 1974 and won the Republican nomination in 1982 for New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District seat, losing to Bill Richardson.<ref name="obit" /> In 1986, she became the first woman in New Mexico to seek a party's nomination for Lieutenant Governor<ref name="obit" /> but lost to Jack L. Stahl.

==Published works== *Chambers, Marjorie Bell. “Technically Sweet Los Alamos: the Development of a Federally Sponsored Scientific Community.” University of New Mexico, 1974. *Chambers, Marjorie Bell. “The AAUW-IFUW Relationship: An Emerging Issue in Progress.” ''Graduate Woman'', vol. 73, no. 2, 1979, pp.&nbsp;24–27. *Chambers, Marjorie, and William H. Chambers." Conference Proceedings: The Cold War and Its Implications: Locally, Nationally, and Internationally": the Second Los Alamos International History Conference, Los Alamos, New Mexico, August 9–12, 1998. Los Alamos, N.M.: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1998. Print. *Chambers, Marjorie, and Linda K. Aldrich. ''Los Alamos, New Mexico: a Survey to 1949''. Los Alamos, N.M: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1999. Print. *Chambers, Marjorie. ''The Battle for Civil Rights, or, How Los Alamos Became a County''. Los Alamos, N.M: Los Alamos Historical Society, 1999. Print.

==Awards and distinctions== *1977: Doctor of Laws ''honoris causa'', Central Michigan University<ref>{{cite web |title=Recipients of Honorary Degrees |url=https://www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/ResearchResources/CMU_Material/Graduation_Ceremonies/Pages/Recipients-of-Honorary-Degrees.aspx |website=Clarke Historical Library |publisher=Central Michigan University |accessdate= December 15, 2019}}</ref> *2003: Governor's Award for Outstanding Women (New Mexico)<ref name="obit" /> *2003: Lifetime Achievement from New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women<ref name="obit" />

==See also== *American Association of University Women *Colorado Women's College *Colby-Sawyer College *Los Alamos National Laboratory *National Woman's Party

==Notes and references== {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[https://www.unmfund.org/fund/william-h-and-marjorie-bell-chambers-endowed-faculty-award-for-excellence-in-history/ William H. and Marjorie Bell Chambers Endowed Faculty Award for Excellence in History] *[https://aauw-nm.aauw.net/awards/iia/ AAUW-NM Ingenious Ideas Award] *[https://www.c-span.org/video/?20889-1/economic-health-issues C-SPAN panel]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Marjorie Bell}} Category:Women in New Mexico politics Category:American women historians Category:Academics from New Mexico Category:Educators from New York City Category:20th-century American women educators Category:20th-century American educators Category:1923 births Category:2006 deaths Category:University of New Mexico alumni Category:Mount Holyoke College alumni Category:Historians from New York City Category:21st-century American women