Susan Collins is a U.S. senator from Maine. She is the 15th woman in history to be elected to the Senate and represents one of only three states that have two female U.S. senators.

Born December 7, 1952, in Caribou, ME, Senator Collins was raised in this small city in northern Maine, where both of her parents served as mayor. Her family runs a fifth-generation lumber business, which was founded by her ancestors in 1844 and is still operated by two of her brothers. Senator Collins is Catholic and single.

In 1975 Collins graduated magna cum laude from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1987, after working for former Maine senator William Cohen for 12 years, including 6 years as staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Collins joined the cabinet of Maine governor John R. McKernan, Jr., as Commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation, a position she held for 5 years. She then served as New England administrator of the Small Business Administration from 1992 to 1993.

Losing her first campaign for public office in 1994, Collins became the founding executive director of the Center for Family Business at Husson College in Bangor, ME, a position she held until she resigned in 1996 to run for the Senate seat vacated by Senator Cohen. She won both a contested Republican primary and a four-way general election later that year with just over 49 percemt of the vote.

Senator Collins is co-author of the 1998 Higher Education Act and currently holds the leadership post of Deputy Whip. Senator Collins serves on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; the Special Committee on Aging; and the Committee on Governmental Affairs. During the first half of the 107th Congress Senator Collins chaired the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). In addition to her committee assignments, Senator Collins has been appointed by the Republican leader Trent Lott to serve on special task forces on Social Security, Education, and Health Care Policy"