Virginia Professional Communicators Name Sandra G. Treadway, Librarian of Virginia emerita, Newsmaker of the Year

RICHMOND, Va. — Sandra G. Treadway, Librarian of Virginia emerita, has been named Virginia Professional Communicators’ 2024 Newsmaker of the Year, one of the organization’s top honors. The annual VPC Newsmaker Award is given to a nominee who has made significant news in the past year or throughout their career.

Treadway retired in January after a 45-year career in which she helped the Library of Virginia move into new headquarters, reach new and underserved audiences, and embrace the complexity and breadth of the commonwealth’s history.

“During her tenure,” wrote the institution in the announcement of her retirement, “the library achieved significant growth in the digitization and accessibility of its records, opening new windows to the past for diverse audiences through projects like Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative and Making History with LVA, a volunteer transcription program. The library also expanded onsite public programming to draw new audiences to its facility and strengthened outreach to communities statewide with the launch of its mobile van, LVA On the Go, in 2023.”

Treadway, who hails from Dumont, N.J., is a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Virginia.

Starting with the library in 1978, Treadway rose through the ranks, becoming the director of that area, then stepped into the post of deputy state librarian for 11 years. She took the helm as Librarian of Virginia in 2007, the ninth person (and second woman) to hold that position since it was established in 1903. Before that, the Virginia secretary of the commonwealth often managed the library, which was founded in 1823. Treadway’s final year on the job dovetailed with the 200th anniversary of the place she has served so long and so well.

In recognition of her outstanding service and impressive career, VPC will honor Treadway as 2024 Newsmaker of the Year at its Spring Conference on April 20, which appropriately will be held at the Library of Virginia in downtown Richmond.

VPC’s Newsmaker Award nominees are judged by a committee based on newsworthiness, public service, personal sacrifice, risk-taking, and/or inspiration to others. Only VPC members may nominate candidates for Newsmaker.

Treadway, who was an honoree in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year program in 2017, has written and edited many publications about Virginia history and women’s history. Among her many works, she wrote “Women of Mark: A History of the Woman’s Club of Richmond, Virginia, 1894–1994” and is the founding editor of the multivolume “Dictionary of Virginia Biography.”

Previous Newsmaker of the Year recipients include Virginia legislator Danica Roem, musician Susan Greenbaum, philanthropist Doris Buffett, former Virginia first ladies Roxane Gilmore and Anne Holton, poet Nikki Giovanni, and author Kristen Green.

About Virginia Professional Communicators

Virginia Professional Communicators is a statewide organization of professional women and men pursuing careers across the communications spectrum. Learn more at: www.vapc.org.

Media contact: Diane Thieke, VPC Communications, 609-577-4075, diane.thieke@versiona.com