Walker's began her career in the
Utah House of Representatives, including a term as
Majority Whip, during which she helped create Utah’s Rainy Day Fund. She served in the Utah House from 1981 to 1989. She served as the
fourth Lieutenant Governor of Utah for the 10 years prior to becoming governor. She also became the first woman governor of Utah. Senator
Orrin Hatch said Walker "truly paved the way for women in government in Utah." Also, throughout her political career "her passion across the board" was education. During her short term as governor, Walker focused on supporting education in Utah. She created the Read With a Child Early Literacy Initiative, visited classrooms often to read to children, and vetoed a proposal for vouchers for private schools with the reasoning that the proposal would take funding away from public schools. In a move that caused a degree of controversy within the state, the
Utah Republican Party at its convention on May 8, 2004, elected not to place Walker on the ballot for the party primary (held on June 22, 2004), selecting instead
Jon Huntsman, Jr. and
Nolan Karras as the two potential Republican party candidates for the office of Governor of the State of Utah, the first time in 48 years that an incumbent Utah governor failed to win a party nomination. Huntsman went on to win the primary election with more than 66% of the vote. These events effectively ruled out any possibility of Walker being on the ballot in the 2004 general election. Convention delegates defended their choice by claiming that many of the delegates were already pledged to other candidates, because Walker had served only six months as Governor before the party convention. She had also waited until two months before the nominating convention to choose to run for re-election, giving her rivals a head start to build their campaigns. The Walker Institute coordinates internships for Weber State University students, holds public forums and debates on public policy issues, and provides leadership and engaged-citizenship workshops for students and the community at large. ==Personal life==