Rebecca "Becky" Cook Cain-Ceperley was the president of the
League of Women Voters from 1992 to 1998. Cain is currently the president and CEO of The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation in
Charleston,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
.
Life
Cain is from
St. Albans, West Virginia. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Relations from
West Virginia University
West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...
in 1969. While at West Virginia University, she was a member of
Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity (, also known as APhi) is an international sorority with 172 active chapters and over 250,000 initiated members.
Founded at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York on September 18, 1872, it is the fo ...
. In the summer of 1970, she did postgraduate work in Education at West Virginia University. She is married, and has one son.
Career
Cain was originally a teacher to school-age children, and taught about American civics and the United States government. She joined the League of Women Voters in 1975, as a member of their
Charleston, West Virginia chapter.
She began to volunteer for the organization and advocated for the increased participation of women in American politics.
She became the national president of the League of Women Voters in 1992, which was a volunteer position. As the national president of the League, she played an active role in seeking congressional action on a broad range of public policy issues including the fight for the passage of the
National Voter Registration Act.
She also sought to rebuild the faith of voters in the American political symptom, and combat voter apathy.
In 1996 the ''
Ladies' Home Journal'' named her one of the most powerful women in politics in the category of issues and advocates. As president, she also helped to run advertisements in the ''Ladies' Home Journal'' that were aimed at increasing the political involvement of American women.
Following her tenure at the League of Women Voters, she worked to achieve
campaign finance reform in Congress as the president of
Campaign for America.
Cain has appeared on
CBS This Morning
''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
,
Primetime Live, the
Larry King
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. ...
Show, and
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's ''
All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
''.
Scripps-Howard
The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
and
Cox News Service
CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company prim ...
have also carried her columns and guest editorials. She is currently a contributing columnist for
The Charleston Gazette
The ''Charleston Gazette-Mail'' is the only daily morning newspaper in Charleston, West Virginia. It is the product of a July 2015 merger between ''The Charleston Gazette'' and the '' Charleston Daily Mail''. The paper is one of nine owned by HD ...
.
In 2006, West Virginia Executive Magazine named her one of the 50 most powerful people in West Virginia.
Cain is a former member of the Executive Committee of the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Advisory Committee on Election Law to the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...
, and the
West Virginia Election Commission. She is currently a member of the board of directors of the
Campaign Finance Institute, the
Alliance for Better Campaigns, the
American Judicature Society
The American Judicature Society (AJS) is an independent, non-partisan membership organization working nationally to protect the integrity of the American justice system. AJS's membership — including judges, lawyers, and members of the public — ...
, the
West Virginia Center for Civic Life and the
West Virginia Nature Conservancy. She also serves on the Committee on Legislation and Regulations for the
Council on Foundations
The Council on Foundations, founded in 1949, is a nonprofit leadership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. The Council's mission is to provide the opportunity, leadership, and tools needed by philanthropic organizations to exp ...
.
Honors and awards
In 1988, she received the West Virginia Common Cause Public Service Award. That same year, she also received the West Virginia Celebrate Women Award for her commitment to, and achievement in, volunteer work. In 1992, she was honored with the West Virginia Education Association Corma A. Mowrey Memorial Award. She was named a distinguished alumnus of the West Virginia University Department of Political Science in 1994.
In 1998, upon the end of her term as president of the League of Women Voters, the Becky Cain Award for Visionary Leadership was established by the organization in her honor.
Cain has also received honorary Doctor of Law Degrees from
Ripon College,
University of Wisconsin–Madison
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 Stat ...
and the
University of Charleston
The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley.
History
The school was founded in 1888 as ...
, West Virginia.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Becky
Living people
American women's rights activists
Educators from Charleston, West Virginia
West Virginia University alumni
Women in West Virginia politics
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women
People from St. Albans, West Virginia
Activists from West Virginia
Members of the League of Women Voters