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About
the Seneca Award
June 2003
Recipients
September
2003 Recipient
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2004 Recipient
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 The PWCF Seneca Award is named for Seneca Falls, New York, the location of the first women’s rights convention in the United States. The Award recognizes that sustained efforts by numerous committed individuals are necessary to bring about positive change for women.
Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793-1880), a distant relative of Benjamin
The Seneca Falls Declaration begins with the proposition that "all men and women are created equal" and sets out a series of resolutions demanding increased rights for women, including better educational and employment opportunities, and the right to vote. In 1920, 72 years later, when national victory in the long struggle to secure the vote for women came, only one signer of The Seneca Falls Declaration, Charlotte Woodard, had lived long enough to cast her ballot in the national election. Click here for more information about Seneca Falls.
On June 17, 2003, at City Hall in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Women's Campaign Fund Awarded its first Seneca Awards to Renee Amoore, Leslie Anne Miller Esq., and the Honorable Marian B. Tasco. As a special memento of the inaugural PWCF Seneca Award, PWCF each honoree was presented with an original piece of jewelry created and donated by Philadelphia jewelry designer, Susan Rifkin.
. Trained as a Registered Nurse, with a Master's degree in Counseling and Administration, Ms. Amoore has earned an enviable reputation for innovative treatment approaches for persons with mental illness, addictive disorders, mental retardation and others. Her activities are expanding to international levels as she coordinates progressive programs in South Africa in conjunction with its government. Ms. Amoore's interest in the community is an extension of her commitment to service. Toward that end, in 1991 she was elected as an at-large member of the Board of Directors of the Upper Merion School District, the first African-American ever elected to the office and she served as Board Vice President for four years. An energetic leader, she has been active in many professional and community organizations. They include the NAACP, the American Legion Auxiliary, Negro Business and Professional Women, Martin Luther King Jr. Association, several Chambers of Commerce throughout Pennsylvania, National Association of Women Business Owners, African American Museum Board of Directors, Drexel University Board of Trustees and Elkins Park Hospital Board of Trustees.
Leslie Anne Miller Prior to becoming General Counsel, Ms. Miller was a partner in the Philadelphia law firm of McKissock & Hoffman, P.C. She has extensive experience in civil litigation and mediation developed during twenty-five years of trial practice in the state courts of Philadelphia and the surrounding five-county area, as well as the Eastern and Middle District Courts of Pennsylvania. Ms. Miller has also served as the first female President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and its 27,000 lawyers. Before becoming President, Ms. Miller held numerous offices in the Pennsylvania Bar Association, including Chair of the House of Delegates, Chair of the Commission on Women in the Profession, and Chair of the Young Lawyers Division. In addition, she has been an active member of the Philadelphia Bar Association and serves on multiple boards in Philadelphia, including the Pennsylvania Ballet and WHYY, Philadelphia's public television network. She is also President of the Pennsylvania Women's Forum and co-chair of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts where she served as President from May 2001 through the Center's opening in December 2001.
Marian B. Tasco Councilwoman Tasco also serves as the Ward Leader for the renowned "Mighty-Mighty 50th Ward Democratic Executive Committee." Under her leadership, the highly motivated and politically astute 50th Ward and its committeepeople, have maintained their distinguished position in local politics, by having the highest voter turnout amongst all neighborhoods and other wards in the City of Philadelphia. As a veteran legislator understanding the importance of elected officials being held accountable for their productivity, Councilwoman Tasco continues to be effective in her commitment to obtain goods and services to preserve and enhance the quality of life for her constituency. She has been able to maintain an outstanding rapport with her electorate by introducing and securing the passage of a myriad of bills and resolutions, which directly relate to improving general city services, protecting and enhancing the health and welfare of women, children, and families alike; and making Philadelphia neighborhoods and commercial corridors safe havens for all citizens. While using her political leverage to accomplish the aforementioned, Councilwoman Tasco currently serves as Chair of the City Council Committee on Health & Human Services; Vice Chair of the Finance Committee; and holds membership on the Fiscal Stability & Intergovernmental Cooperation; Commerce and Economic Development; Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs; and the Transportation and Public Utilities Committees. She has also successfully secured an eminent leadership position, in which she serves as Chair, of the Philadelphia Gas Commission (PGC), the agency that provides co-management for the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), a city owned utility.
September 2003 - Nancy M. Neuman
Ms. Neuman chaired the national campaign to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, working on behalf of the League of Women Voters. Ms. Neuman is an accomplished lecturer and writer, and formerly served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Washington and Jefferson College, Bucknell University and Pomona College. She was a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow from 1993-2000. She earned a B.A. degree from Pomona College, an M.A. degree in political science from University of California at Berkeley and holds honorary degrees from Pomona College and Westminster College. In 1987, Governor Robert P. Casey presented her with a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania award. Nancy Neuman received the highly regarded PWCF Seneca Award in recognition of her lifetime commitment to promoting the active participation of women in the political process and to advancing women's rights and interests in Pennsylvania and across the nation.
Books Edited by Nancy M. Neuman:
May 2004 - Judith Rodin
In addition to being the first woman to be named to the presidency of an Ivy League institution, Dr. Rodin is also the first Penn alumna to serve as president. She holds faculty appointments as a professor of psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and as a professor of medicine and psychiatry in the School of Medicine. She returned to Penn after 22 years on the faculty of Yale University, where she served as provost from 1992 through 1994. Rodin serves on the boards of the Brookings Institution and Catalyst, and on the boards of Aetna, Inc., AMR Corporation, Electronic Data Systems and Comcast Corporation. She is also a Trustee of the BlackRock Funds. She chaired the Council of Presidents of the Universities Research Association. She chairs the board of Innovation Philadelphia and the Knowledge Industry Partnership, serves on the steering committee of college presidents for America Reads and the executive committee of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Rodin is also a member of the Council on Competitiveness. Rodin served on President Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology and co-chaired the transition team of Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street. She also served from 1994-95 on a Presidential panel to review security at the White House. Rodin has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. After completing her Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1970, Rodin joined the faculty of New York University as an assistant professor of psychology. She moved to Yale in 1972, was promoted to associate professor in 1975, named a full professor of psychology in 1979, and added the title of professor of medicine and psychiatry in 1985. Prior to her appointment as Yale's provost in 1992, she served two years as chair of the department of psychology and one year as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. From 1983 to 1993, she chaired an international research network studying health and behavior for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Renowned for her work on the relationship between psychological and biological processes in human health and behavior, Rodin has published more than 200 articles and chapters in academic publications and authored or co-authored ten books. Dr. Rodin will end her term as President of the University of Pennsylvania in June 2004.
Past Award Photos |
Franklin, lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1810
until 1880. In 1848, Mott teamed with Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902),
of New York, and others, to organize the ground-breaking Seneca Falls Woman's
Rights Convention. From this Convention, they produced The Seneca Falls
Declaration, modeled on the Declaration of Independence, drafted in Philadelphia
72 years earlier.
Nancy M. Neuman, former president of the League of Women
Voters of the United States and of the Pennsylvania Women's Campaign Fund
(PWCF), was honored on September 22, 2003 at a special reception attended
by women legislators, business owners, elected officials including Lt. Governor
Catherine Baker Knoll and national leaders, most notably Kay Maxwell, current
President of the League of Women Voters of the United States.
In 1994, Dr. Judith Rodin became the first woman to be
named to the presidency of an Ivy League institution. During nearly a decade
of service, Rodin has guided the University through a period of unprecedented
growth and development that has transformed Penn's academic core and dramatically
enhanced the quality of life on campus and in the surrounding community.
Under her leadership, Penn has invigorated its resources, doubling its research
funding and tripling both its annual fundraising and the size of its endowment;
launched a comprehensive and widely acclaimed neighborhood revitalization
program; attracted record numbers of undergraduate applicants, creating Penn's
most selective classes ever; and risen in the U.S. News & World Report
rankings of top national research universities from 16th in 1994 to 5th in
2003. Dr. Rodin's presidency has also marked the largest capital construction
period in Penn's history, with more than $1 billion invested in new buildings,
renovations and restorations.
