{"id":12257,"date":"2026-06-30T10:41:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/?p=12257"},"modified":"2026-06-30T10:41:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T14:41:30","slug":"alumna-makes-history-in-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2026\/06\/30\/alumna-makes-history-in-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna Makes History in Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In a historic feat, Georgia Southern University alumna Ghazala Hashmi (\u201986) has been elected Virginia\u2019s new lieutenant governor. She is the first Muslim woman in the U.S. elected to a statewide office and the first Indian American to win statewide office in the commonwealth. In a previous interview with Georgia Southern Magazine, Hashmi recalled growing up in Statesboro and attending Marvin Pittman Laboratory School on the Statesboro Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a lovely childhood,\u201d said the lieutenant governor. \u201cAs you know, growing up in a small town you pretty much knew everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Georgia Southern student, Hashmi was in the inaugural class of the University\u2019s Bell Honors Program, and said her favorite memories are connected to that program. Both her father, Zia Hashmi, and her uncle, Shafik Hashmi, had distinguished careers as professors in the University\u2019s political science department. She worked for nearly 30 years as a professor and administrator at colleges in Virginia and in 2019, she won in an upset race for a state senate seat in the commonwealth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a historic feat, Georgia Southern University alumna Ghazala Hashmi (\u201986) has been elected Virginia\u2019s new lieutenant governor. She is the first Muslim woman in the U.S. elected to a statewide office and the first Indian American to win statewide office in the commonwealth. In a previous interview with Georgia Southern Magazine, Hashmi recalled growing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":12258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[91,92],"class_list":["post-12257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-up-front","tag-fall-2025","tag-spring-2026"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t