Dr. Yvonne Michelle Spicer (born June 30, 1962) is an American educator, democratic politician, and a former mayor from

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popu ...

. She was inaugurated on January 1, 2018, becoming the first African-American woman to be popularly elected mayor in Massachusetts, and served until January 1, 2022. She was previously the Vice President for Advocacy and Educational Partnerships at the

Museum of Science The Museum of Science (MoS) is a science museum and indoor zoo in Boston, Massachusetts, located in Science Park, a plot of land spanning the Charles River. Along with over 700 interactive exhibits, the museum features a number of live presentat ...

in Boston, Massachusetts.

Early life and education

Yvonne Spicer grew up in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, the third of four children of Willie and Dorothy Spicer. When she was six years old, a visit to her class by

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional distr ...

left a lasting impression of the importance of leadership and public service. Spicer's father died when she was ten. She was 13 years old when she got her first job running errands, peeling potatoes and stocking shelves for a Brooklyn restaurant, and her first official job was working for McDonald's. During the summers, she also helped her mother clean houses on the Upper East Side. Spicer attended Catholic middle school and graduated from

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of th ...

, then earned a B.S. in industrial arts & technology in 1984, followed by an M.S. in technology education in 1985, both from the

State University of New York at Oswego State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public college in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York. It has two campuses: historic lakeside campus in Oswego and Metro Center in Syracuse, New York. SUN ...

, from which she was the first African-American woman to graduate. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus Un ...

in 2004.

Career

Education

After graduating from college, Spicer moved to Framingham, Massachusetts in 1985 for a job as a woodworking instructor. She worked in the Framingham Public Schools for 16 years, also teaching drafting, architecture, graphic arts, and photography, and eventually becoming Chair of Technology Education, the first woman to fill that position. During that period she also worked part-time as a realtor. She spent two years as Statewide Technology and Engineering Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Education, then five years as Director of Career and Technical Education in the Newton Public Schools. In 2006, Spicer was hired as Associate Director of the Museum of Science (Boston)'s National Center for Technological Literacy, where she rose to Vice President for Advocacy and Educational Partnerships, a division she created and led.

Politics

Spicer served on the Framingham Human Relations Commission and the Democratic Town Committee. She was elected to Framingham's representative Town Meeting in 2016, where she served as vice-chair for Precinct 6, and on the Standing Committee on Ways and Means. Spicer was elected Framingham's first mayor in November 2017, following town's decision to change the format of the local government from a Board of Selectmen to a mayor and City Council. Senator

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...

held the bible for Spicer's swearing in on January 1, 2018. She was appointed by Governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

to the Massachusetts Governor's STEM Advisory Council in 2010, and reappointed to the council in 2017 by Governor

Charlie Baker Charles Duane Baker Jr. (born November 13, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 72nd governor of Massachusetts since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Baker was a cabinet official under two governors of Massach ...

. On November 2, 2021, Dr. Spicer lost her bid for re-election. Her term ended on January 1, 2022 with the inauguration of new mayor Charlie Sisitsky.

Honors

* Selected by the National Aeronautics & Space Administration in 2000 to participate in an aerospace engineering program for technology educators * Named Framingham State University's Global Education Teacher of the Year in 1993 * Received the Anti-Defamation League's 1995 "A World of Difference" Teacher Incentive Award * Named one of 2009's ten "Women to Watch" by Mass High Tech: the Journal of New England Technology * 2017 President-Elect to the International Technology Engineering Education Association (ITEEA)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spicer, Yvonne Mayors of places in Massachusetts African-American educators African-American mayors in Massachusetts People from Framingham, Massachusetts Living people 1962 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Women mayors of places in Massachusetts Educators from Massachusetts American women educators Massachusetts Democrats 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women African-American women mayors