Meet Carolyn Jackson: 2009 alumni fellow
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Carolyn W. Jackson is a woman of action and adages. During her visit to Justin Hall this week as the college’s 2009 alumni fellow, she sprinkled action-packed advice with stories from her varied and successful career and with aphorisms.
“If you go alone, you go fast, if you go together, you go far,” she told faculty leaders and students.
“You can’t soar with the eagles if you roost with the turkeys,” she told students, stressing the importance of building professional relationships.
“Luck is when opportunity meets preparation” is another Jackson favorite. “Statistically you will have three major career shifts in your life,” she informed students. Those with a strong inner circle of associates have huge advantages.
Jackson is executive director of the American Association of Family Consumer Sciences in Washington D.C. She has served as chief of staff for a U.S. Representative and worked with Extension and several national organizations. But her best foundation, she said, was watching her parents run the Polled Hereford Association from their farmhouse kitchen table near Inman and managing her 4-H club projects.
Growing up on a farm forces you to learn resourcefulness and anticipate hard work, Jackson said. “You work until the work is done.”
“I bleed green,” she said, referring to her 4-H background, “and I bleed purple.” Jackson is a vehement cheerleader for K-State and for the College of Human Ecology. “A human ecology degree allows you to go anywhere – from politics to youth development, from extension to directing a national association with more than 6,000 members.”
This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 and is filed under Congratulations, Dean's Blog.