Dates

• Existence: 1951-

Biography

Swati Dandekar was born March 6, 1951 in Nagpur, India. After receiving several graduate degrees in India, in 1973 she immigrated to Marion, Iowa with her husband, Arvind. After serving on the Linn-Mar Community School Board from 1996-2002, she became the first South Asian woman elected to a state legislature in the United States, serving parts of Linn County as a Democrat in the Iowa House from 2003-2009 (District 36) and in the Iowa Senate from 2009-2013 (District 18).