National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Regional Director Gay Vietzke has named Andrea (Andie) DeKoter as the acting superintendent of Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York. DeKoter will manage the park through an important milestone, the Centennial of the 19th Amendment in August 2020. She will begin her new assignment later this summer.
"Women’s Rights National Historical Park is at the center of the 19th Amendment Centennial," Vietzke said. “It needs a leader to manage this important celebration. Andie DeKoter’s previous service at the park makes her the ideal choice to coordinate this proud moment in our history."
“I’m thrilled to return to Seneca Falls and work with the outstanding staff and partners on this significant event," said DeKoter. “My own career and educational journey would not have been possible without the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Coffin Mott, Harriet Tubman, and countless other women who came before me, and it’s an honor to return to the places that enshrine their legacy."
DeKoter comes to Seneca Falls from Richmond National Battlefield Park and Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, where she serves as chief of interpretation. Her previous assignments include working in the Washington, DC Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs as the Legislative Affairs Researcher and at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and Women’s Rights National Historical Park as a front-line interpretive ranger.
DeKoter holds a Ph.D in U.S. history, with a specialty in women’s history, from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 418 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
