Three people led the effort to create Administrative
Professionals Day/Week: Mary Barrett, a past president of the National
Secretaries Association—now called the International Association of
Administrative Professionals (IAAP); C. King Woodbridge, president of
Dictaphone Corporation; and Harry F. Klemfuss, public relations account
executive at Young & Rubicam.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer proclaimed
the first observance of National Secretaries Week as June 1 – 7, 1952.
Wednesday, June 4, 1952, was designated the first National Secretaries
Day. In 1955, the National Secretaries Association changed the dates to
the current celebration during the last full week of April.
In 2015, Administrative Professionals Week is April 19 – 25.
Administrative Professionals Day is celebrated on Wednesday, April 22.
The name of the observance was changed to Professional
Secretaries Day/Week in 1981 when the National Secretaries Association
became Professional Secretaries International (PSI).
In 1998, PSI changed the organization’s name to the
International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP), and
the name of the occasion was changed again in 2000, when the IAAP
designated the holiday as Administrative Professionals Day/Week. The
name change reflects the changing job titles and expanding
responsibilities of today’s administrative workforce.