Donna was the sponsor of the Maine State Education Act, which requires teaching the History of Maine's First Nations, including the genocide committed against them by European colonials and their descendents. A copy follows her bio:

Donna is a tribal member of the Penobscot Indian Nation. She has been the Nation’s Representative to the Maine State Legislature since October of 1997 and, serves as the Nation’s Coordinator of Tribal, State, and International Relations.

She is a graduate of the University of Maine at Orono - Bachelor of Arts in Political Science - and is a graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. Donna has considerable experience in law enforcement. She served as Police Chief for the Penobscot Nation from 1984-1990, which gave her the disttinction of being the first female police academy graduate in the State of Maine to become police chief . From 1992 to March of 1997, she was director of security at Bowdoin College, the first female to hold the position, and was a member of the Maine Chiefs of Police for eleven years.

Loring is a Vietnam War Veteran. During her stint, November 1967 to November 1968, she served in the communications center at Long Binh Army Base, located approximately thirty miles northeast of Siagon. Her job was to process all casualty reports for Southeast Asia.

Donna was appointed Aide de Camp to former Governor Angus King on March 17, 1999 and was commissioned with the rank of Colonel by the Governor. She was advisor to the former Governor on women veteran affairs.

To hone her leadeship skills she has taken several upgrading courses. She is a recent graduate of the Flemming Fellows Leadership Institute Class of 2001. The Program is a value based leadership program under the auspices of the Center for Policy Alternatives, which is a nationally respected and recognized organization of progressive, innovative and creative political leaders.

Recently she graduated from the Eleanor Roosevelt Global Leadership Institute. It is a unique leadership program that provides training to help state legislators address the impact of globalization at both the state and local level. She was one of 14 state legislators, selected from among more than 7,000 eligible state legislators from across the nation. They were sent to Chile to learn about the Chilean development process in the areas of economic development, social development, and foreign trade. They attended meetings with various local and regional government leaders and with American Embassy officials.

The former Speaker of the House, Michael Saxl, appointed Donna, August 2002, House Chair of the Casino Study Task Force, which gave her another first, she was the first Tribal representative to be appointed as a House Chair of a committee.

For her dedication to duty, on November 4,1999, Donna received the Mary Ann Hartman Award from the University of Maine’s Women in Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program. The award recognizes Maine women for outstanding accomplishments in the arts, politics, business, education and community services.

In addition to her political duties Donna serves on the following Boards and committees:

Commission on Women Veterans (created by the 118th Legislature)
Joint Legislative standing Committee on Judiciary
Chancellor’s Diversity Task Force
Maine Community Foundation Board of Directors
Northeast Historic Film Board of Directors
Appointed recently by Governor Baldacci to serve on the New England Board of Higher Education