Indiana Wesleyan University has chosen Elizabeth Hanford Dole, former United States Senator, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Labor, President of the American Red Cross and founder of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, as the 2014 inductee into the IWU Society of World Changers.
"Senator Dole is a woman of faith who has devoted much of her life to supporting the essential work of healers and caregivers," said IWU President Dr. David Wright. "Her story is an example to all Christians who, like the Good Samaritan, feel an irrepressible compassion that compels us to act in service to the wounded, the hurting and the broken."
In addition to her time in the cabinets of two presidents and the United States Senate, Dole led the American Red Cross from 1991 to 1999.
"She totally restructured the world's largest humanitarian organization during her eight years as president, serving as a volunteer in her first year," reads Dole's online biography. "She led a massive transformation of the way the Red Cross collects, tests and distributes one-half of the nation's blood supply. It was a seven year effort designed to move antiquated World War II-era blood bank practices to a centralized state-of-the-art system with standard operating procedures."
Beginning in the late 1980s, Dole has been a regular on Gallup's annual list of America's 10 most admired women. Through the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, which she created in 2012, Dole provides ways to help caregivers of wounded servicemen and women of the American military.
Above all, IWU has chosen to honor Dole for her witness for Christ and her dependence on God's grace.
"God doesn't want worldly successes," Dole once wrote. "He wants my heart. In submission to him, life is not just a few years to spend on self-indulgence and career advancement. It is a privilege, a responsibility, a stewardship, to live according to a much higher calling--God's calling. This alone gives true meaning to life."
In addition to Dole, IWU will honor three members of its own community of students, faculty staff and alumni. These Community Honorees will exemplify the same ministry of compassion that Dole has adopted as her special calling.
Elizabeth Dole has been married to her husband, Bob, a former senator and presidential candidate, since 1975. She has one stepdaughter, Robin.
IWU will officially induct Dole at a special convocation in the IWU Chapel Auditorium on October 3, 2014.
IWU established the Society of World Changers in 2003 to recognize role models who have exemplified the concept of world changers and whose live can serve as an inspiration to future generations." Previous inductees include television producer and author Robert Briner, author Frank Peretti, legendary football coach Tony Dungy, Oscar-nominated singer Joni Eareckson Tada, and gospel musicians Bill and Gloria Gaither.