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Political science alum retires after 33 years as aide to Sen. Harkin

June 22, 2009

Liepa and Sen. Harkin

Dianne Liepa and Sen. Harkin celebrate

at her retirement party.

When Dianne Liepa started working in Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) office in 1976, he commented to her and other workers that congressional staff jobs aren’t intended to be careers, but rather good stepping-stones to other opportunities. Thirty-three years later, Liepa retired from Harkin’s office after moving up the ranks from staff assistant to state director.

Liepa said she didn’t expect to spend her career there, but she found that she enjoyed the challenges in her work. As Harkin’s state director since 1995, Liepa was responsible for overseeing constituent service, which involved solving constituents’ questions ranging from social security benefits to immigration; helping plan and execute the senator’s Iowa schedule; conducting public outreach; and “keeping a finger on the pulse” – watching for emerging issues. 

One of her main accomplishments was developing a constituent service system, which involved coordinating staff to find a means to solve one problem in a way that it would help all affected constituents. As Harkin’s staff worked on constituent issues, they would work to fix the situation, sometimes via legislation.

At the time she developed this system, Liepa said there were not a lot of protocols set by the Senate, and there wasn’t a Senate office of training and education yet. As a result, the Iowa system became a model for other members of Congress.

Liepa also initiated “Invent Iowa” in the late 1980s in cooperation with Carol MacDanolds Bradley at the Iowa Department of Education. The statewide program promotes children’s invention process. Once the idea took off, the board turned the program over to the University of Iowa to administer. The University of Iowa and Iowa State University Colleges of Engineering take turns hosting the state convention.

“That was part of the pleasure of my job working for Tom,” she said. “I could start new projects, turn them over to others, and then I could move on and work on other initiatives.”

Liepa said her interest in politics was a result of great social studies teachers in high school and in college. She attended Iowa State University and received a B.S. degree in political science in 1971 and an M.A. in political science in 1975. She said her degrees helped prepare her for a career in politics.

“As a TA at Iowa State I became better versed in basic principles of American government, political philosophy and international politics,” she said. She also said her college writing experiences, which had an emphasis on basic democratic principles, helped her compose outreach letters for Harkin’s office.

She is still involved in Iowa State’s political science department as a member of the department’s advisory board. The group meets once a year to review department goals and provide feedback.

Liepa’s husband and daughter took similar paths at Iowa State. Her husband, John, received a B.S. in history and a M.A. in political science. He is an instructor and co-director of the Iowa Studies Center at Des Moines Area Community College. Their daughter, Hillary, a political science and international studies graduate, is currently working in government in Washington, D.C. as Director of Advance for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

In her retirement, Liepa is pursuing art – another of her passions. She is still involved in politics at the state and local level, something “all citizens should make time to do,” she said.

She said she will miss the service aspect of her work in Harkin’s office. “When I was growing up, I always felt my work should have to have redeeming social value,” she said. “This job met that standard very well. I was able to help people, train others, and find ways to help government work more efficiently. It was very rewarding.”

 

-- by Laura Engelson