Judy Dushku

Judith Ann "Judy" Dushku ( Rasmussen; born March 30, 1942) is an American academic political scientist, journalist, writer, and humanitarian. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and well known as a Mormon feminist, Dushku cofounded the Mormon women's journal Exponent II, was the Relief Society president for the Boston stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, became lead founder of a humanitarian agency in Uganda, and is a professor of government at Suffolk University (Boston, Massachusetts), specializing in comparative politics and the interaction of policy and gender since the 1970s. Dushku has been dean of a satellite campus, has won two major awards at Suffolk, and has been a Fulbright Senior Specialist. Dushku was extensively quoted by the media regarding Mitt Romney during his presidential candidacy. Her daughter, Eliza Dushku, is a successful television and film actress.

Life Early life Judith Ann Rasmussen was born 30 March 1942 just outside Rexburg, Idaho, US, one of the three daughters of Barbara Porter Hegsted (1917–2008) and Richard Rasmussen (1918–2006). Her father joined the US Navy, and was later director of the National Civil Defense Staff College, as well as an active Mormon leader. at the international affairs graduate division of Tufts University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, graduating in 1966. Teaching assignments ranged from introductions to and broad courses on US, African, Caribbean, Central American and developing world politics, the former USSR and its sphere of influence, women in global and regional politics and ethics in international affairs. She also led study trips to more than twenty countries, often in transitional situations,

Exponent II In 1974, Dushku was one of the founders of Exponent II, a women's journal published by, and largely for, Mormon women, and inspired by the early Woman's Exponent published by members of the Relief Society from 1872 to 1914. and for many years she ran the Sisters Speak column, where readers could write in about personal issues. She remained involved with the magazine for decades, She also highlighted his general attitude towards LDS women, and women in general, while stressing, in response to 'muck-raking' questions, that he was conscientious. After the election, Dushku's overtures to Ann Romney to restore family relations were rejected and when the Boston stake was divided, and a new Cambridge stake formed, her ward was not included in the area to which Romney's home was assigned, but to a more remote one, in a maneuver sometimes described as the "Dushku gerrymander."

Work in Africa Suffolk University appointed Dushku as Dean of their Dakar, Senegal campus from 2001 to 2003. This campus, with students from 20 countries, had operated since the 1980s. Initially Tharce-Gulu (Trauma Healing and Reflecting Center - Gulu), It also helped build a women's bakery in the city, and some of its supporters sell craft goods from Gulu in the US.

Personal life Rasmussen married Philip Dushku, a Boston-area school teacher and administrator of first-generation Albanian heritage, in 1969. They had three sons, including Nate Dushku, and a daughter, the youngest child, actress Eliza Dushku. They divorced during the 1980 pregnancy,

She remarried, to Jim Coleman, in 1991, including in Dakar. Retiring from the role of assistant director of the Library, Coleman continued to work with the Gulu NGO. He died in Watertown, October 31, 2013.

Dushku is a practicing Mormon and has been president of the Relief Society, the principal Mormon women's organization, for the Boston stake. Essay in Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah Essay in Sister Saints Short story in Fiction on the Web

Recognition In 2010 Dushku was awarded the Eve Award by the Mormon Women's Forum.