你的家: 华盛顿特区.C.
你的家乡: 马里恩
跟我们说说你的家庭吧. 我丈夫理查德在华盛顿工作. 他是一家智库的研究员. I have two older sisters who both attended Montevallo. 我父母仍然住在马里恩.
你的职业是什么?? 我是国务院外交事务官员. The Foreign Service represents the United States overseas, and we also work in Washington. The State Department’s mission is to protect and promote U.S. 安全, prosperity and democratic values and to shape an international environment in which all Americans can thrive.
What do you find most rewarding about working in Foreign Service? I picked a profession that requires me to learn, and I learn something new every single day. We are constantly reminded of how the world changes and we must keep learning as it changes. I was fortunate to study several foreign languages to prepare for overseas assignments, and that is another layer of responsibility because you have to attain proficiency in very difficult languages sometimes. But it’s a great gift because languages teach you more than just grammar — they teach you about cultures.
How did it feel to receive UM’s Department of Behavioral & 社会科学杰出校友奖? It meant so much to me because I was nominated by two former professors. One of the things I said at the award presentation was how important my background turned out to be for the work that I went into, especially the importance of understanding relationships across cultures. Growing up in a small town in the Black Belt was an important lesson in interdependence, 但在一个小校园里也是如此. I had professors who did not think it was unusual to include, 例如, 历史课上的小说. It was just something that happened at Montevallo because of faculty who looked at their subjects through a multidisciplinary lens. I was around when Montevallo had the first of the Life Raft Debates. 这是一场竞赛, but there was also a sense of acknowledgment among the faculty of the profound respect they had for each other across fields. I’ve always remembered that as part of my formation at Montevallo, and that’s a very good lesson for any student or professional — to know that there are other ways to approach problems and to think about creative solutions.
What is the best advice you have received in your career? My first ambassador once said that the people she knew who had not achieved their potential were the people who stopped taking calculated risks. My own path and the opportunities that opened up for me happened because I was prepared to take those calculated risks. Even going to graduate school in Pittsburgh was a big change for somebody like me who had never been outside of 阿拉巴马州. Change is stressful, and you just have to know that that’s part of the process of growing. It comes back to having faith that you have the foundation that you need to approach problems, and the value of such a deep grounding in critical thinking and all of the elements that make up an education at Montevallo. 我们的毕业生可以与任何人竞争. 我们可以做任何我们开始做的事. I am so glad to know that other Montevallo graduates are here in Washington working across a range of fields. We’re proof that it really is a function of being open to those opportunities and being open to those risks.
Were you involved in any campus clubs or organizations? 我是Phi Alpha Theta的成员, 历史荣誉协会, 和Sigma Tau Delta, 英国荣誉学会.
是什么让蒙特瓦洛校友特别? Our diversity — I can tell you just from my own family what a diverse group we are. My oldest sister was a business major at UM and has had a very successful career in banking and insurance. My middle sister was an art major and now works for a nonprofit. The fact that this small place is able to nurture the ambitions of such a diverse group of students, 即使是在一个家庭里, 这说明了学校的实力.
你对在读学生有什么建议? Try to enjoy the entire journey — and that’s a tough one because we’re under such pressure as young people to get a job and a house, 在组织内部晋升, 成功，证明我们自己. I wish the younger me had been a little more intentional about enjoying the journey, but I think I was always so focused on the next thing. 试着享受每一章.
The views expressed are not necessarily those of the U.S. 政府.