Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18) was the first Hispanic woman elected to Congress. She was born in Havana, Cuba, on July 15, 1952, and came to the United States with her family, fleeing communist aggression, when she was eight years old. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida International University and her Associate in Arts from Miami-Dade Community College. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen has also been bestowed an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy degree from Nova Southeastern University. She is presently working on her doctoral dissertation in higher education from the University of Miami. Rep. Ros-Lehtinen began her career as an educator, and founded a private elementary school in Florida
