Helen Dickerson Wise (born September 11, 1928) is a retired American politician and public education official.
A staunch advocate for America's public education system and political activist who played a key role in improving the collective bargaining rights, pay and working conditions for educators across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States, she was also a prominent advocate for children, advising parents that:[3] "The most important thing is that parents are supportive of children in school.
[7][8] Wise began her career as a social studies teacher after relocating with her husband to Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1950.
Subsequently re-elected to the board in 1972, she went on to serve her alma mater as a trustee for twenty-one years, chairing committees on educational policy and affirmative action.
That year, she took a leave of absence from her job as a social studies teacher with the Westerly Parkway Junior High School in the State College school system[18][11] to lead that American teachers' union, which had more than one million members at that time, and help turn it into a key influencer of American politics.
[19][20][10] During her tenure, she chaired the subcommittee on human resources and served on the education, conservation and federal/state relations committees.
[22] In 1979, she lobbied Governor Pierre S. DuPont IV and the Delaware General Assembly to enact legislation that would improve collective bargaining rights across Delaware by giving all public employees the right to strike when other bargaining efforts failed to produce satisfactory improvements for workers.
[25] In May 1993, she delivered the spring commencement address to graduates of Penn State's College of Education, saying:[26] "Make a difference.