The White House announced on Wednesday that Dr. Annette N. Shelby, the wife of United States Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), will be appointed by President Donald Trump to the prestigious Advisory Committee on the Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In a statement to Yellowhammer News, Senator Shelby expressed his pride in his wife’s latest honor and her lifetime of exemplary service.
“I am very proud of my wife, Annette, for her nomination today by President Trump to be a member of the Kennedy Center Advisory Committee,” Shelby said. “She spent her career as an academic, teaching at both the University of Alabama and Georgetown University for more than 30 years. Annette has been widely recognized for her distinguished career of teaching, research, and service. She has worked diligently to earn this honor.”
Lauded as a “key” post by the White House, the Kennedy Center’s Advisory Committee on the Arts is a national board appointed by the president of the United States. Members are chosen for their knowledge of and experience in the arts. They act as ambassadors to their home states on behalf of the Kennedy Center and its national education and outreach programs. The Advisory Committee on the Arts also advises and consults with the center’s board of trustees and makes recommendations regarding existing and prospective cultural activities to be carried out by the Kennedy Center — the nation’s preeminent and official “National Cultural Center.”
Dr. Shelby is a native of Kinston, which is located in Coffee County. A current resident of Tuscaloosa, she is widely known for her dedication to academia and the public welfare. Shelby earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in speech from the University of Alabama in 1960 and 1962 respectively and her Ph.D. in speech from Louisiana State University. She has since been awarded a Doctor of Humanities degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The Alabama grad began her academic teaching career at her alma mater in 1971, working there until her husband was elected to Congress in 1979. At that time, she began a storied tenure at Georgetown University, where she achieved the historic distinction of being the first woman to become a tenured full professor in the university’s McDonough School of Business. In 1991, she was named Professor Emerita. She also has been a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the Helsinki School of Economics and a director of both the Georgetown graduate and undergraduate programs at Oxford University.
Her long and illustrious career has been recognized by numerous teaching, research and service awards, including the Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education, the Danforth Association Program Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Joseph F. LeMoine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence.
Shelby’s service awards include the University of Alabama’s Julia and Henry Tutwiler Award and Georgetown University’s Ronald L. Smith Distinguished Service Award. She also is a fellow and distinguished member of the Association for Business Communication.
Shelby has held fundraising responsibilities for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington. She also has worked on behalf of the March of Dimes in Washington and been a member of the Honorary Advisory Committee for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the Honorary Advisory Board for the National Osteoporosis Foundation. She was a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Healthy Women 2000 Advisory Committee.
She also has been an active member of the Tuscaloosa County Mental Health Board and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Board. Shelby is a member of the University of Pittsburgh Global Studies Board of Advisors, the Stillman College Board of Trustees and the University of Alabama President’s Advisory Board.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
