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President George W. Bush nominated Stephanie J. Monroe as assistant secretary for civil rights on June 23, 2005, and she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 17, 2005. As assistant secretary, Monroe is Secretary Spellings' primary adviser on civil rights and responsible for enforcing U.S. civil rights laws as they pertain to education—ensuring the nation's schools, colleges and universities receiving federal funding do not engage in discriminatory conduct related to race, sex, disability or age.

OCR enforces five major civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975; and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; plus provisions of the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act (Sec. 9525 of the No Child Left Behind Act).

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) retains more than 633 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, including attorneys, investigators and EEO specialists in Washington, D.C., and in 12 regional field offices. OCR is one of the largest civil rights enforcement units in the federal government.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Monroe graduated from Randallstown High School in Randallstown, Md., and earned her bachelor's degree in government and politics from the University of Maryland-College Park.

After graduation, she worked as a legislative assistant for Sen. Gordon Humphrey (R-N.H.) and studied law at the University of Baltimore, where she earned her J.D. degree in 1985 and received an American Jurisprudence Award. In 1993, Monroe served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion.

From 1998 to 2001, she served as the chief counsel and minority staff director of the former Senate Labor and Human Resources Subcommittee on Children, Family, Drugs and Alcoholism. From 2001 to 2005, she was the chief counsel for the U. S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Immediately prior to joining the Department in 2005 Monroe ended her distinguished 20-year career on Capitol Hill as a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee.

Monroe and her two children live in Ashburn, Va.