sentences:  Her career in state government began in the 1970s when she worked in the office of then Secretary of State Wade O. Martin, Jr. She was named director of the Atchafalaya Basin Division of the Department of Public Works in 1972.The Atchafalaya project, which encompassing a million acres (4,000 km²), is the largest bottomland swamp in North America.Thompson designed the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism and served as the first Cabinet-level Secretary in 1976.