Marie Shadden, MPA, received early recognition as a journalist from California State College in Hayward, the Contra Costa Times, the American Newspaper Publishers Association, and the American Association of University Women. She received the Freedom Foundation at ValleyForge medallion in the category of personal essay.
She graduated as a criminologist from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a Master of Public Administration in Criminal Justice degree from Golden Gate University, San Francisco.
One of the first women officers in the USAF Security Forces, she served as a squadron commander and Luke AFB, Arizona Chief of Security Police. She received Air Force Commendation and Meritorious Service Medals. She was noted for leadership and innovation. Lieutenant Colonel Shadden remained active in veterans’ organizations after retirement. Inducted into the Air Force Security Forces Association Hall of Fame, she also received special recognition as secretary of the AFSFA national board. She appears in two volumes of AFSFA History. Her work on the history of the Security Forces career field is in the USAF Security Forces Museum and the Air University Library at Maxwell AFB, Alabama.
Throughout her second career, she wrote extensively about victim assistance, training, emergency response, and physical security for clients in federal agencies, state, and local police departments, executive-appointed commissions, and the drinking water industry. After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, she worked with the City of Atlanta, the USEPA and the AWWA to establish and institutionalize standards and metrics for water security.
In addition to veterans groups, she belongs to the Southwest Writers Association (SWA), the American Legion Media Alliance, the Military Writer’s Society of America, and the Arizona Authors Association (AAA.) She has the most fun with the Alliance of Literary Writers and Yammering Scribes (ALWAYS.)
She lives in Chandler, Arizona. Warrior and survivor, she is blessed to have her daughter and muse, Michelle, nearby.