To celebrate Women’s History Month, the NPC blog
will spotlight Panhellenic women who have been influential historical figures.
The third and final featured Panhellenic woman is Virginia Dill McCarty, a
member of Pi Beta Phi at Indiana University. McCarty was an innovator for women
in law and the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney General.
McCarty was born in Plainfield, Ind. and attended
Indiana University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in law. She
graduated first in her class and was elected to serve as Indianapolis Editor of
the Indiana Law Journal. In 1965, she served as an Indiana Deputy Attorney
General. Following her term, she served as a member of the Indiana Board of Law
Examiners from 1971-76.
In 1979, she was appointed U.S. Attorney General by
President Jimmy Carter, serving a full, four-year term. After serving as
Attorney General, she was Chairman of the Board of the Indiana Department of
Correction. She was a practicing attorney until her death in 2006.
Throughout her lifetime, McCarty received many
awards and honors. She was the first winner of the Indiana State Bar
Association Women Lawyers Committee Women in the Law Achievement Award in 1996.
She was also the first to receive the Outstanding Alumna award from the Women’s
Division of Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis in 2000.