Mary Adela "Dell" Eads (née Diaz; March 2, 1920 – July 8, 2003) was an American politician.
[1][3][5] While on the latter committee, she helped pass the Education Enhancement Act of 1986 which raised public school teacher pay.
[2][6] Eads was appointed by Senate president pro tempore, Kevin B. Sullivan, as chairman of the select committee on children.
Eads became the first woman in the state to be elected president pro tempore for a full term when the Republicans took control of the Senate in 1995.
It is believed that she is the second woman in Connecticut to hold a major leadership position in the state senate, after Florence Finney.
[3] During her career, she opposed state taxes on income, capital gains and dividends, and supported low-interest rates for municipal water companies.
She focused on keeping the Torrington branch of the University of Connecticut open and established the Office of the Child Advocate in the state.
[7] She credited her efforts with including money for a court house in Litchfield County in the state bond proposals and with the decision of the Board of Higher Education to offer four year degrees at the Hartford, Torrington and Waterbury branches of the University of Connecticut.
[1][10] In 2016, the board of trustees of the University of Connecticut voted unanimously to rename the Litchfield County Extension Center after Eads.