Sonja Lillian Egenes (née Carlsen; October 19, 1930 – November 27, 1984) was an American politician who served in the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

from 1971 to 1983. She also was a member of the Luther College Board of Regents.

Biography

She attended St. Olaf College and the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

; before graduating from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

(B.S. degree, 1951). Egenes was awarded a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. For 5 years she was a teacher at Randall High School in Randall,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

; followed by serving as a teacher of American government at Iowa State University in Ames, from 1960 to 1961. In 1962 her political career began as a Congressional candidate, she was a member of the Republican Party. She served as a member of the Iowa House of Representatives in the 33rd district from 1971 until 1973; and in the Iowa 43rd district from 1973 until 1983. In 1979, Egenes proposed the state of Iowa to cut off student aid to Iranians on the 34 campuses in the state, which would expel them during the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. She died on November 27, 1984, in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

at age 54.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egenes, Sonja 1930 births 1984 deaths Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Women state legislators in Iowa Republican Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Iowa State University alumni Iowa State University faculty