Frank Mackaman is handing the reins of the Dirksen Congressional Center to Tiffany White next year.
White is the current chief of staff for state Rep. Mike Unes (R-East Peoria). She will take over as executive director of the Dirksen Congressional Center on September 2. Mackaman will retire in 2020.
The Dirksen Congressional Center was founded in 1975 in Pekin. It holds the papers of Sen. Everett Dirksen, and former Reps. Bob Michel, Ray LaHood, and Harold Velde. The Center seeks to educate people about how the U.S. Congress works.
“I am delighted that the Board of Directors has found such an experienced, talented, and enthusiastic person as Tiffany White to continue The Center’s important work,” said Mackaman in a statement. “What began as a simple collection of papers in 1975 has grown to become a nationally acclaimed resource for scholars, teachers, public policy analysts, and students of government. With Tiffany at the helm, The Center’s future is bright.”
White is a 2005 graduate of Pekin Community High School and 2008 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied political science and speech communication.
"The Dirksen Congressional Center represents many sources of my pride for our local community, and I am so humbled to have been asked to assume this role," White said. "Helping to maintain the legacy of The Center—along with the legacy of great public servants whose influence is kept alive by The Center's mission—will undoubtedly be one of the highest privileges of my life and career. I could not possibly be more enthused about this opportunity, and am anxious to dedicate myself to this work."
Mackaman will remain on at the Center as the historian and archivist for now. Eventually, White will also take over that role.
