Dr. Stephanie Scott Named Secretary of the District of Columbia

(Washington, DC) Today, DC Mayor-elect Adrian Fenty announced a key appointment to the Executive Office of the Mayor. Stephanie Scott will serve as the secretary of the District of Columbia.

The Secretary of the District of Columbia serves as the sole custodian of the District of Columbia seal and authenticates its proper use on official documents; and manages, preserves, and provides public and archival records.

Stephanie Scott holds a doctoral degree in psychology from the City University of New York Graduate School.  Her dissertation research was a study of participation in informal and formal neighborhood-based community organizations in Brooklyn, New York.   Dr. Scott was a researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC for five years before leaving academic work in 2003 for more direct involvement in local government.  Her academic research focused on neighborhood participation, affordable housing, community-building through the arts, and the roles of nonprofit organizations in Washington, DC.

In 2003, Dr. Scott joined DC government as chief of staff in the Office of Council Member Adrian Fenty.  In 2004, she resigned to become Campaign Chief of Staff for Adrian Fenty’s successful re-election campaign.  After the 2004 election, she continued to serve as treasurer of Adrian Fenty’s Constituent Services Fund, and also became a consultant, serving the Ward 4 Council Office as webmaster and editor of the Ward 4 Weekly Newsletter.

Dr. Scott has been very active in her community, serving on the board of the Takoma DC Neighborhood Association (formerly Plan Takoma), the Takoma Anti-Crime Task Force, and as an active participant in the PTA at Shepherd Elementary School in Northwest, where her two young children attend. Dr. Scott’s husband, Lt. Col. Les’ Melnyk, PhD is a Historian and Public Affairs Officer at the National Guard Bureau.

Dr. Scott is a lifelong Washingtonian, having moved to DC at age two when her father, the first African-American reporter hired full-time for the Associated Press, was moved to the city from New York.  She lives with her family in her childhood home to which she returned from sojourns to Philadelphia for undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, and to New York for graduate school.  Dr. Scott is honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve her hometown as Secretary of the District.