Valerie Prehoda

Valerie Prehoda
  • BS Social Sciences 1983

Valerie Prehoda chose to attend Michigan Tech for two reasons: it was close to home, and she wanted to be a stratigrapher—a geoscientist who studies the layers of rock that make up the Earth’s crust. However, through the mentorship of her favorite professor, Pat Martin, she ended up receiving her BS in Social Sciences, with a focus in archaeology, in 1983. She was one of the first to graduate in what has since become an internationally recognized program of industrial archaeology.

Taking advantage of what Tech had to offer, Prehoda was engaged as a student while working to pay for her schooling. She served as an assistant in the archeology lab, worked in Tech’s copper mine, played on the soccer, gymnastics, and women’s hockey teams, participated in MTU Aquanauts, and assisted in four years of SCUBA instruction. While Michigan Tech did not lead to a career in stratigraphy for Prehoda, she credits the University for her successful lifeway.

“Although I live in northern France and Texas now, I will always be a Yooper. I owe my successful life to my formative years in the UP and at Tech.”

After graduating from Michigan Tech, Prehoda was accepted into the United States Marine Corps (USMC) as an officer, where she held a 20-year career before retiring in 2003.

In her accomplished career as a Marine, Prehoda served on deployments in Albania, Alaska, Kuwait, Iraq, and Norway, among many others, and was the highest ranking female officer forward during the initial combat period of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). 

“Because the ratio of guys to gals was weighted over in the XY side [at Tech], that served me well in my Marine Corps career where I was often the only female officer in my unit,” she shared.

After 10 years of active duty, Prehoda transferred to the Reserve, joining the civilian workforce as the museum director and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) coordinator for the Cocopah Tribe in Arizona. Later, she worked as an environmental protection specialist at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in 29 Palms, California. 

Her life as a Marine Corps Reserve officer placed her in billets in the fourth tank battalion, the third air-naval gunfire liaison company, and the joint contact team program in Albania. Additionally, she taught peace-keeping operations in Mali, Senegal, and Malawi, and in 2001, became the Alaska National Environmental Policy Act and NAGPRA coordinator for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Prehoda redeployed after the invasion of Iraq in 2001. After surviving a missile attack in northern Kuwait in March 2003, she completed two combat support tours, and retired from the Marine Corps at a rank of lieutenant colonel. She retired at the end of 2016 as the Salton Sea program manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, with 30 years of civil service, GS-14.

During her time in the Marines, Prehoda received a multitude of recognition and awards, including, but not limited to: a Joint Service Achievement Medal with oak leaf cluster, a Navy Unit Commendation with a bronze star, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Presidential Unit Citation for OIF combat support, and many more.

After retirement, Prehoda continues to serve her country in the veteran community through life memberships in the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Marine Corps League, the Military Officers of America Association, the Disabled American Veterans, and the US Naval Institute. 

Currently, Prehoda is a vice commander of the American Legion's Department of France, an advisory board member for the US Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, and an advisory board member for the United War Veterans Council. She also works with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to recover the remains of soldiers and airmen from WWI and II in northern Europe.

Prehoda will be inducted into Michigan Tech’s Presidential Council of Alumnae in November 2025.

Updated September 2025