Lincoln University ’74 Alumna Elected Lt. Governor of New Jersey

 Lincoln University, Pa – On November 7, Sheila Oliver ’74 continued to make history in the state of New Jersey by becoming its first African American woman elected Lt. Governor. In July, Oliver was selected by then New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nominee  Phil Murphy to be his running mate.

Prior to being elected Lt. Governor of New Jersey, Oliver served as an elected state assemblywoman, an office she has held since 2004. In 2010 she became the first black woman to serve as Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, a position she held until 2014.

Murphy and Oliver ran in the November general election to replace term-limited Gov. Chris Christie. The lieutenant governor is first in the line of gubernatorial succession and serves as acting governor when the sitting governor is out of the state. Oliver had previously served on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders from 1996 to 1999. She was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, and has a sociology degree from Lincoln University. 

 

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Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU), educates and empowers students to lead their communities and change the world. Lincoln offers a rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse student body of approximately 2,200 men and women in more than 35 undergraduate and graduate programs.