predecessor successor death_date birth_place president death_place imagesize office birth_date term_start spouse image article_title term_end name alma_mater
sidney p. marland , jr. . mary frances berry 11 october 1998 boise , idaho richard nixon gerald ford athens , georgia 100px assistant secretary of education november 29 , 1921 1974 robert trotter us-deptofheatheducationandwelfare-sealphoto . png virginia trotter
 1977 virginia yapp trotter kansas state university ohio state university
virginia trotter

virginia yapp trotter -lrb- november 29 , 1921 -- october 11 , 1998 -rrb- was assistant secretary of education from 1974 to 1977 , under presidents richard nixon and gerald ford .
the position was included in the department of health , education and welfare at the time .
trotter was the first woman to hold the u.s. government 's highest education post , although the position did not become cabinet-level until 1979 .
trotter worked as a university administrator before and after serving as assistant secretary .
as president of academic affairs at the university of georgia , she intervened in 1981 to allow nine football players at to pass a remedial english course , allowing them to play against pittsburgh in the 1982 sugar bowl , which resulted in a scandal at the school .
