Heather Wilson

Heather Ann Wilson (born December 30, 1960) is the 11th President of the University of Texas at El Paso. She previously served as the 24th Secretary of the United States Air Force from 2017 through 2019, as the 12th president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology from 2013 to 2017, and as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for New Mexico's 1st congressional district from 1998 to 2009. Wilson was the first female military veteran elected to a full term in Congress.

While in the U.S. House of Representatives, Wilson served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce. She did not run for re-election in 2008, instead seeking the U.S. Senate seat of retiring senator Pete Domenici; she finished second in the Republican primary to Congressman Steve Pearce. On March 7, 2011, she announced another run for Senate in 2012 to replace retiring senator Jeff Bingaman, but lost the general election to Democrat Martin Heinrich, her successor in the House of Representatives.

In April 2013 she was selected was president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, making her the first female president of the school. President Donald Trump announced on January 23, 2017, that he would nominate Wilson as Secretary of the Air Force. The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination on May 8, 2017. On March 8, 2019, Wilson announced that she would resign as Secretary, effective May 31, in order to assume the office of President of the University of Texas at El Paso. On March 2, 2020, Trump appointed Wilson to the National Science Board.