2012 Meritorious Service Award: Mary Louise Rasmuson

These individuals provide significant, public, academic, volunteer or philanthropic service to our campuses and to our Alaska community.

Mary Louise Rasmuson
Meritorious Service Award

Mary Louise (Milligan) Rasmuson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1911. A graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) and the University of Pittsburgh, she began her career as an educator and has since led a life of rich variety, engaging in military service, community involvement, leadership and philanthropy.  

In 1942, Mary Louise Milligan entered the United States Army with the first group of American women selected for the Women's Army Corp. After 20 years of military service, she retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel, serving the last six years as director of the Women's Army Corp. During her service, she received a Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Service Medal, a World War II Victory Medal and a Legion of Merit award with two oak leaf clusters for her work in integrating black women into the Women's Army Corp.

Mary Louise married Elmer E. Rasmuson in 1961 and came to Alaska following her retirement from the military in 1962. Mrs. Rasmuson quickly became involved in public service through numerous organizations, including the American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, the American Association of University Women and the Business and Professional Women's Organization. She has served on the board of the Rasmuson Foundation since 1967.   

In 1968 Mary Louise and Elmer Rasmuson founded the Anchorage Museum of History and Art and Mrs. Rasmuson was appointed chair of the first advisory council for the museum. She later served on the Municipality of Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Commission and as head of the Anchorage Museum Foundation, which was instrumental in recent museum expansion projects.   

Mrs. Rasmuson was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and in 2009, she was inducted into the inaugural class of the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame.

In recognition of her lifetime of community and public service and her commitment to philanthropy, the University of Alaska Anchorage proudly awards Mary Louise Rasmuson the meritorious service award.