Eastern Michigan University. Photo: Pwojdacz ( talk ), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EasternMichUniPark.gif)
Gallery of Cynthia Chertos
University of Michigan. Photo: AndrewHorne, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AngellHall2010.JPG)
Eastern Michigan University. Photo: Pwojdacz ( talk ), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EasternMichUniPark.gif)
Cynthia Helene Chertos is an American consultant, writer, researcher, and minister. Her career has included teaching at the University of Michigan, research and leadership at the Center for Women in Government, executive direction of the Greater Pittsburgh Commission for Women, and writing on gender, organizations, public policy, and the history of Silverton, Colorado.
Background
Cynthia Helene Chertos was born on September 12, 1950, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to James Peter Chertos and C. Frances Chertos. She later pursued higher education in Michigan, completing undergraduate study at Eastern Michigan University and graduate study at the University of Michigan.
Her professional life developed during a period when American universities, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations were expanding research and programs concerned with sex discrimination, affirmative action, and women's participation in public and professional institutions. Her later writing also reflects a connection with Silverton, Colorado, where she lived for thirteen years and drew on local history for a collection of historical fiction.
Education
Chertos received a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1974. The university, founded in 1849 as a normal school, developed into a comprehensive public institution serving southeastern Michigan and maintaining a strong tradition of teacher education and applied study.
She continued at the University of Michigan, receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1976 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1982. The University of Michigan's research environment supported interdisciplinary work in the social sciences, organizational studies, public policy, and education. Her doctoral dissertation, Social Policy Implementation in Organizations: The Case of Non-Discrimination and Affirmative Action in the University, placed her subsequent research within the study of institutional change and equal-opportunity policy.
Chertos began her academic career as an instructor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor from 1976 to 1981. The university was one of the major American research institutions of the period, and her teaching preceded her transition into applied research on organizations, public policy, and discrimination.
From 1981 to 1987, she served as director of research and implementation at the Center for Women in Government in Albany, New York. Established in 1978 and affiliated with the State University of New York at Albany, the center conducted research and training aimed at identifying and removing structural barriers to women's advancement in government employment. Chertos contributed to studies of affirmative action, managerial promotion, occupational segregation, comparable worth, and institutional discrimination. Her publications from this period included reports on managerial promotion in New York State and occupational segregation among working women.
Chertos became executive director of the Greater Pittsburgh Commission for Women in 1987 and held the position until 1992. The commission formed part of the nonprofit and civic infrastructure addressing women's status and participation in the Pittsburgh region. From 1992 onward, she worked in private practice as a consultant and writer, advising organizations on related issues and producing research, policy, and literary work.
Her later writing expanded from social-policy research into historical fiction. Silverton Stories: A Collection of Stories from the San Juans, published in 2022, presents fourteen stories set across the history of Silverton, Colorado, and combines documented local events with fictional characters. Chertos has also served as a part-time pastor in Silverton, linking her later professional life with religious ministry and community participation.
Achievements
Chertos conducted and published research on affirmative action, occupational segregation, comparable worth, and managerial promotion, examining institutional barriers affecting women and racial and ethnic minorities in employment.
As director of research and implementation at the Center for Women in Government, she contributed to policy studies and recommendations concerning women's advancement in New York State government.
Chertos wrote Silverton Stories: A Collection of Stories from the San Juans, a fourteen-story historical-fiction collection portraying the social and cultural history of Silverton, Colorado, across more than a century.
(Co-authored with Mark A. Chesler. The paper examines orga...)
1981
Religion
Chertos is a Christian minister associated with the United Church of Christ and has served as a part-time pastor of the First Congregational Church in Silverton, Colorado. The United Church of Christ developed from Protestant congregational traditions and emphasizes local church governance, religious freedom, social responsibility, and public engagement.
Her religious work represents a later stage of a career that had earlier focused on organizational research, women's advancement, and public policy. The combination of ministry, writing, and social-justice work places her within a Protestant tradition that has often linked faith with community service and advocacy for equality.
Politics
Chertos is identified with the Democratic Party. Her documented professional work has centered on civil rights, affirmative action, women's advancement, organizational reform, and equitable public policy, subjects commonly associated with the Democratic tradition's emphasis on government action against discrimination and expanded participation in public life.
Her research at the Center for Women in Government examined institutional barriers affecting women and racial and ethnic minorities in public employment. Her later organizational and community activities continued to be connected with equal opportunity, leadership, and social inclusion.
Views
Chertos's research and writing consistently examine how institutions shape opportunity. Her work on affirmative action and women's advancement treats discrimination as a structural and organizational problem rather than only as a matter of individual attitudes.
Her historical fiction also emphasizes the relationship between personal lives and social change. Silverton Stories connects individual hopes, losses, conflicts, and acts of self-determination with broader developments in immigration, gender relations, economic life, and community history.
Membership
Chertos has participated in civic, professional, and women's organizations concerned with civil liberties, leadership, and community advancement. Her documented roles include board service with the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Executive Women's Council, and Women's Edge, as well as treasurer of the Women's Leadership Assembly.
These organizations provided different institutional settings for work on civil rights, women's leadership, professional development, and public participation. Her memberships complemented her research and executive work on equal opportunity and women's advancement.
Served on the board of directors of the Pittsburgh chapter.
American Civil Liberties Union
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United States
Served on the board of directors.
Executive Women's Council
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United States
Served on the board of directors.
Women's Edge
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United States
Served as treasurer.
Women's Leadership Assembly
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United States
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
Kirkus Reviews described Silverton Stories as a transporting and imaginative work of historical fiction, noting its attention to Silverton's social history, diverse female perspectives, immigration, feminism, and social change.
Interests
Historical fiction, local history, community life, religious ministry, and women's advancement.
Connections
Chertos is the daughter of James Peter Chertos and C. Frances Chertos. She married William R. Dodge, with whom she has one child, Zachary Chertos Dodge.
William R. Dodge's professional life included regional planning and public administration, and the couple later lived in Silverton, Colorado. Chertos's connection with Silverton became relevant to her literary work, particularly her 2022 collection of historical stories about the San Juan mountain community.
Father:
James Peter Chertos
Mother:
C. Frances Chertos
Spouse:
William R. Dodge
Chertos's spouse and a regional planner and public administrator.
Received the 1996 ATHENA Award in recognition of professional accomplishment, community service, and support for the advancement of women in the Pittsburgh region.
Received the 1996 ATHENA Award in recognition of professional accomplishment, community service, and support for the advancement of women in the Pittsburgh region.
