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Notable Pi Phis

Meet the Pi Phis who have risen to the top of their fields, from boardrooms and newsrooms to laboratories, stages and seats of government. Their stories reflect the countless ways Pi Phi women have pursued their passions, broken barriers and shaped the world around them.

Historical black and white photo of Grace Coolidge wearing a large flowered hat and the President driving in a convertible car

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Barbara Bush

Texas Eta

Former First Lady of the United States

Barbara Bush

Texas Eta

Former First Lady of the United States

Barbara Bush served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993 during the administration of her husband, President George H.W. Bush. She holds a rare distinction in American history, shared only with Abigail Adams, as one of the two women to have been both a wife and mother of a U.S. president—her son George W. Bush served as the 43^rd President from 2001 to 2009. Throughout her years in public life, she was regarded for her warmth, candor and unpretentious matter that earned her admiration across political lines.

Literacy was the defining cause of Barbara’s public life. She founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, served as honorary chair of three Library of Congress Center for the Book campaigns and was a sponsor of both the Business Council for Effective Literacy and Laubach Literacy International. Barbara supported the National Literacy Act, which became law in 1991, and hosted “Mrs. Bush’s Storytime,” a radio series in which she read to children. She also authored two children’s books to raise money for literacy causes. Beyond literacy, Barbara raised nearly $25 million for the White House Endowment Trust, championed AIDS awareness and remained active in civic life after leaving the White House. She was honored with the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefitting the Disadvantaged in 1995.

Barbara was initiated in 2002 as an alumna initiate.

Erin Cafaro

California Beta

Olympic Rower

Erin Cafaro

California Beta

Olympic Rower

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Erin helped lead the women’s eight to victory at both the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 London Olympics. A 2012 teammate included fellow Pi Phi Taylor Ritzel, Connecticut Beta. After retiring from rowing, she created the sports performance company Power Speed Endurance in 2016. In 2018, she pivoted away from the sports performance world and into the research and mental wellness space.

Erin was initiated in 2001.

Iris Calderhead

Kansas Alpha

Suffragist and Women’s Rights Activist

Iris Calderhead

Kansas Alpha

Suffragist and Women’s Rights Activist

Iris Calderhead was an active leader in the National Woman’s Party and worked alongside some of the United States’ most influential suffragists during the final push for a federal women’s suffrage amendment. She traveled across the country to organize, speak and build support for the women’s suffrage movement. Beginning in 1917, she was among the “Silent Sentinels”—the women who picketed outside the White House to pressure President Woodrow Wilson into supporting women’s suffrage. Iris was arrested and imprisoned for her participation, enduring harsh treatment alongside fellow activists in a way that generated significant public sympathy for the cause.

Her courage and perseverance were part of a broader movement that culminated in the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, securing voting rights for millions of American women. Iris continued her advocacy in the 1930s, serving as Director of the National Woman’s Party’s campaign to pressure the newly created World Court to protect the rights of women internationally. In 1932, she addressed the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the issue. Iris is recognized by historians as a dedicated participant in one of the most significant expansions of democratic rights in American history.

Iris was initiated in 1907.

Carrie Chapman Catt

Iowa Gamma

Suffragist and Civic Leader

Carrie Chapman Catt

Iowa Gamma

Suffragist and Civic Leader

Carrie Chapman Catt is one of the most consequential women’s rights leaders of the twentieth century. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she began her career as a teacher, later becoming one of Iowa’s first female superintendents. Carrie joined the women’s suffrage movement in the late 1880s and quickly rose to national prominence as one of its most gifted organizers and strategists. She succeeded Susan B. Anthony as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900 and developed the “Winning Plan”—a state and federal campaign strategy that was instrumental in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which extended voting rights to millions of American women when ratified in 1920.

Carrie served as president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, carrying the cause of women’s political rights to audiences around the world. In 1920, she founded the League of Women Votes to educate newly enfranchised women and encourage informed civic participation. Carrie advocated for democracy and equal rights throughout her life and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1982.

Carrie was initiated in 1878.

Major General Trudy Hartzell Clark

Maryland Beta

U.S. Air Force Major General

Major General Trudy Hartzell Clark

Maryland Beta

U.S. Air Force Major General

Major General Trudy Clark served 33 years in the United States Air Force, entering in 1973 as a distinguished graduate of Officer Training School at a time when opportunities for women in uniform were limited. She rose through every level of military leadership, holding roles such as branch chief, squadron and group commander and Air Force Deputy Chief Information Officer. Trudy broke barriers as the first woman Executive Officer to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and first woman commandant of a professional military education program.

Trudy’s career placed her at the center of some of the U.S.’s most consequential moments. She served as a Presidential Communications Officer at the White House Communications Agency and, on September 11, 2001, was stationed at U.S. Strategic Command when the terrorist attacks unfolded. Trudy drew on her communications expertise to help ensure secure presidential communications during one of the most critical moments in modern American history. She later served as Deputy Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the organization responsible for safeguarding the U.S. from weapons of mass destruction. She was promoted to Major General in 2003 and retired in 2006. Trudy’s service was recognized with numerous military honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit.

Trudy was initiated in 1971.

Tracie Ruiz Conforto

Arizona Alpha

Synchronized Swimmer

Tracie Ruiz Conforto

Arizona Alpha

Synchronized Swimmer

Tracie is an American competitive synchronized swimmer who became the inaugural champion of the first Olympic synchronized swimming competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, winning gold medals in the solo event and the duet, with long-time partner Candie Costie. She won a silver medal in the solo event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and was later inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1993.

Tracie was initiated in 1982.

Ann Turner Cook

Texas Beta

The Original Gerber Baby

Ann Turner Cook

Texas Beta

The Original Gerber Baby

Ann Turner Cook is most well-known for being the original Gerber baby featured in Gerber baby food ads. The family’s neighbor, Dorothy Hope Smith, was an artist who did a charcoal drawing of Cook when she was a baby. In 1928, when Gerber announced it was looking for baby images for its upcoming line of baby food, Dorothy’s drawing was submitted and subsequently chosen and later trademarked in 1931. The drawing of Ann has since been used on all Gerber baby food packaging.

Ann was initiated in 1945.

Grace Goodhue Coolidge

Vermont Beta

Former First Lady of the United States

Grace Goodhue Coolidge

Vermont Beta

Former First Lady of the United States

Grace Coolidge served as First Lady of the United States from 1923 to 1929 during the presidency of her husband, President Calvin Coolidge. She was admired for her warmth and charm, which stood in contrast to her husband’s reserved public demeanor. Prior to her years in the White House, she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and built a career as a teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she taught lipreading and communication skills to deaf students. Grace remained involved with the Clarke School throughout her life and supported a multi-million-dollar endowment campaign near the end of the Coolidge administration.

As First Lady, she used her platform to champion education, child welfare and opportunities for people with disabilities, while also supporting the American Red Cross and the Visiting Nurse Association. Grace contributed to the preservation and modernization of the White House, including supporting the addition of a third floor. After her husband’s presidency ended, she remained active in civic life through organizations including the Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls and the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children. During World War II, Grace was active in the Red Cross and other relief agencies.

Grace was Initiated in 1898.

Imogen Cunningham

Washington Alpha

Photographer

Imogen Cunningham

Washington Alpha

Photographer

Imogen Cunningham was an American photographer whose career helped shape modern photography. She studied chemistry at the University of Washington before working with renowned photographer Edward S. Curtis and later studying photographic chemistry in Dresden, Germany in 1909—an opportunity which was made possible by a Pi Beta Phi Graduate Fellowship. Imogen became known for her botanical studies, portraits, nudes and industrial landscapes, and was a founding member of the influential Group f/64.

Throughout her career, she photographed artists, dancers, writers and cultural figures for publications such as “Vanity Fair.” Widely recognized as one of the most important photographers of the 20^th century, Imogen received numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, an honorary doctorate from the California College of Arts and Crafts and election as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Imogen was initiated in 1907.

Sandra Dallas

Colorado Beta

Novelist, Journalist and historian of the American West

Sandra Dallas

Colorado Beta

Novelist, Journalist and historian of the American West

Sandra Dallas spent 25 years as a reporter for Business Week, where she became the magazine’s first female bureau chief, covering the Rocky Mountain region. Her journalism work laid the foundation for a fiction career rooted in the history and landscape of the American West.

Sandra is a New York Times bestselling author whose body of work includes 18 adult novels, four middle-grade novels and 10 non-fiction books. Her fiction writing, which includes books such as “The Persian Pickle Club” and “Westering Woman,” explores themes of friendship, resilience and the defining moments of life on the American frontier. She is a three-time winner of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Wrangler Award, a four-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, a six-time winner of the Women Writing the West WILLA Award.

Sandra was initiated in 1958.

Margaret Truman Daniel

D.C. Alpha

Author, Performer and Daughter of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman

Margaret Truman Daniel

D.C. Alpha

Author, Performer and Daughter of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman

Margaret Daniel first came to public attention as the daughter of U.S. President Harry S. Truman, but she built a substantial career of her own across multiple fields. Trained as a classical singer, she performed professionally and appeared regularly on radio and television during the 1940s and 1950s.

Margaret later turned her attention to writing, where she found enduring success. She authored a long-running series of Washington, D.C.-based murder mysteries, as well as several well-received works of biography and history focused on the American presidency. Her biographies of her father and her mother, Bess Truman, drew on rare personal access and are considered among the more intimate portraits of a First Family in American literary history.

Margaret was initiated in 1943.

Jenna Dewan

California Gamma

Actress and Dancer

Jenna Dewan

California Gamma

Actress and Dancer

Jenna Dewan is an American actress and dancer who began her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, first appearing in the “Doesn’t Really Matter” music video in 2000 and later in the All for You Tour in 2001. Crediting Janet Jackson for her early success, she later worked with other well-known artists such as Christina Aguilera, Pink and Missy Elliott.

Jenna has also had a successful acting career. She is most known for her role as Nora Clark in the 2006 film “Step Up” and has hosted a variety of reality television dance shows. She has also starred in several notable television series, including “Supergirl” and “American Horror Story.”

Jenna was initiated in 1999.

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Our Story

The Pi Phi Experience

Find Your Place

Lifelong Connection

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Notable Pi Phis

Known For...

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