Dr. R.Y (Roz) Woodhouse became the first woman executive in the history of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle (formerly Seattle Urban League) when she was appointed its President & Chief Executive Officer in 1984. She served in the position until 1998. Immediately prior to joining the Urban League, Dr. Woodhouse was Vice President and Manager of Employee Relations for Rainier Bancorporation. Before that, Woodhouse was appointed as Director of the State Department of Licensing in 1977, becoming the first female Chief Motor Vehicle Administrator in the country and the first Black woman to hold a cabinet level position in Washington state. After retiring from the Urban League, Woodhouse worked as a consultant for Lutheran Community Services (LCS) Northwest until 2005. She was recruited to the Alaska Urban League in 2008 and then taught at the University of Alaska at Anchorage. She also operated her own consulting firm, Cascade Corporate Alliances.
Woodhouse served twelve years as a member of the Board of Trustees at Central Washington University and was a charter member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Minority Trusteeship in Higher Education. Woodhouse has been active in many community organizations and received numerous honors, including a “Ten Outstanding Young Women in America” honor in 1977, and the Heroes Among Us Award from the Seattle SuperSonics.
This photo shows Dr. Woodhouse at the Senate Higher Education Committee hearing to confirm her reappointment to the Central Washington Univeristy's board of trustees. The first Black woman to serve on the university's board, she was appointed in 1985, but faced opposition to her 1991 reappointment from some faculty and community members. They accused her, as board chairwoman, of being "secretive" and "manipulative" during the board's search for a university president, while her supporters claimed the opposition was racially motivated. Woodhouse's reappointment by Governor Lowry was eventually confirmed by the Senate in 1993.
Caption information source: R. Y. Woodhouse papers, 1970-1998 finding aid, retrieved at http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv64132 Caption information source: "Reappointment hearings go on for Woodhouse," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 20, 1992, p. B1.
