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What compelled you to become a Ripon College Trustee? What rewards does it offer?
Compelling reasons:
- My passion for education and helping young adults create options and opportunities for their future lives.
- My love and high regard for Ripon College, and deep desire to give back to an institution and a community that has given so much to me.
Rewards:
- A strong value of mine is to have two dynamics always present: contributing and learning. In my Trustee role, I have a great sense of self-fulfillment because these two are always present.
- Contributing – bringing experience, expertise and skills to the table and being able to guide, lead, impact, influence and make a difference.
- Learning – committee work, special initiatives and board meetings continue to develop my leadership skills and offer many learning opportunities for me, adding to my life-long learning which I value greatly.
What are your Trustee super powers?
Experience/expertise: business management, human resource experience, operations management experience
Skills: leadership, financial, organizational, team-building, decision-making, problem-solving
Qualities: business acumen, strategic thinking, solutions-oriented, passion for giving young people access to higher learning and education
What are some of your pursuits / hobbies / interests?
- fine arts – playing the piano, going to the symphony, viewing art exhibits
- reading
- playing golf
- learning about different cultures and political perspectives
- traveling abroad
- cooking
- getting actively involved in organizations that support business and education, particularly focused on women and children
- spending time at our country home with my husband
What do you see as the most significant challenges for higher education in general, and Ripon in particular?
I believe the educational ‘industry’ is ripe for consolidation – this is a very fragmented industry (community colleges, 4-year public and private institutions, trade schools, etc) and there are far too many colleges and universities in the United States for the demographics, economy and social structures to support. The demographics of 0 – 18 year olds will not fill all of these seats in the future, education will be competing with health care funding for a long time, and our philanthropic spirit, as generous as it is in the US, cannot support all of these.
For Ripon, we need to not get lost along the way, and continue to stand out as the top-notch, premier ‘hidden jewel’ that we are.
What excites you the most about Ripon College’s future?
Knowing that Ripon gets stronger every day, will be well positioned to be a survivor, and will continue to make a difference in the life-long learning of adults throughout the country and across the globe.
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