Anita F. Alpern (February 18, 1920 in

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– October 31, 2006 in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

) was an assistant commissioner of the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

. At the time of her retirement in the late 1970s, she was the highest ranking woman in the federal career service. Alpern received her degree at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and did graduate work in public administration at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

before moving to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She entered the federal workforce as a labor market economist in the

Department of Labor The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

. Later she held a position as a systems research and management analyst at the Defense Department, before moving on to the IRS in the Treasury Department in 1960. At the IRS, Alpern was one of the first eight women to be appointed to a GS-18 level and the first woman appointed an assistant commissioner in the Treasury Department. She was one of six in 1975 to receive the Federal Woman's Award, and in 1985, she was the first woman to receive the President's Award from the Washington chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. After she retired from federal service, Alpern became a professor at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

where she supervised the School of Public Affairs' internship program. She was credited with the school's success in placing an exceptional number of graduates in the Presidential Management Fellows Program.

External links/references

Obituary
November 6, 2006, ''Washington Post''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alpern, Anita 1920 births 2006 deaths American University faculty and staff Internal Revenue Service people University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni