National Park College Cultural Diversity Awareness Club and the Office of Diversity hosted a Women of Distinction panel discussion and a Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event in honor of International Women's Day on Thursday.
The panel included NPC alumnus Kristy Carter, director of Marketing for the Division of Outreach and Community Engagement at the University of Central Arkansas; Lenora Erickson, executive director for the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy; and Stephanie F. Rose, assistant professor at the University of Central Arkansas, Addiction Studies Program.
"There was no better way to celebrate International Women's Day than by highlighting some of our own. We invited three of our women alumni to return to campus and share their stories," Darla Thurber, vice president of external affairs, said.
"The theme that evolved was that of not being afraid to ask for help. Whether it be campus or community resources or enlisting a mentor, these ladies made it with support. I think that was so important for our students to hear," she said.
Thurber said that Carter, for the past decade, has helped UCA establish many programs and initiatives such as service-learning, a women's leadership network and a minority vendor partnership initiative.
"Kristy makes service a priority for her work on nonprofit boards such as United Way of Central Arkansas, Bethlehem house, Parker Education and Development, Arkansas Black Mayor's Association and most recently the learning resources network board of directors," Thurber said.
"It's great to be back in National Park. It has been a little while since I've been here in this capacity. So it's always a pleasure to come home," Carter said.
She said that she started at Quapaw Technical Institute in the accounting program, noting that it was business, technology and accounting at the time.
Carter was at a crossroads when she received her certificate; she could either work for the city of Hot Springs as an accounting tech, or she could go to Garland County Community College, now NPC, to continue her education, she said.
She said that she went to vocational-technical school to get a certificate, so she can start working, but also she had the opportunity to get more education.
"I am glad that I continued my education here at the community college. I completed an associate degree here and went on to Henderson State University. I got my master's degree from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock," Carter said.
Now, Carter is pursuing her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Leadership.
Thurber said that Erickson is licensed by the Arkansas Board of Examiners and Counseling as a professional counselor. She serves as executive director for the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapists.
"The reason that I have this job is because I'm organized, and I'm on time if I say I'm gonna be there, I'm early and the board members when I was on the board, they recognize that and they offered me the job to be the director of the counseling board," Erickson said.
Erickson said that she started NPC when it was Garland County Community College. Her parents didn't talk about college because they did have the money at the time. When she graduated from high school, she wanted to go to college.
"I knew that I needed to go to college to do something," she said.
Erickson said her parents told her that if she wanted to go to college, then she had to find a way, and she did, noting that she enlisted in the military.
"The GI Bill brought me to college. I spent 10 years in the Army Reserve," she said.
Erickson said when she came to NPC, she wanted to be a medical records transcriptionist and work from home, but her adviser, Roger Fox, told her to think bigger. Fox placed her in a psychology class, and she loved it, and she knew that it was something that she wanted to do. Fox told her that being in the field requires a master's degree.
"If you're organized, and you're on time, and people see that, you can get jobs. I don't have a Ph.D., but I'm working in a job where everybody before me had one," she said.
She said Rose has been a practicing licensed, certified social worker for about 13 years with an emphasis on co-occurring mental health disorders and substance use disorders. She is also an advanced alcohol and drug counselor and clinical supervisor. She specializes in mental health and addiction. Rose completed her doctorate in social work with an emphasis in addiction.
"She continues to complete research in the field of addiction via publications and has given a number of related presentations throughout the country," Thurber said.
Rose said that she is the oldest of six. Her parents had technical degrees, and that is what was expected of her. She was to go to community college and get the quickest degree that she can, noting her parents were trying to guide her into nursing.
"My heart was not in it. It's not the right field for me. I've always had a desire to be a social worker, but there were and still are a lot of myths about my field. The biggest thing I hear constantly, why do you want to take babies away from their families? Social working is anything but that I would say," she said.
"Roger Fox was the first person in my life to tell me that I was capable of going beyond," she said.
Rose got a job at St. Joseph's Regional Health Center, now CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs, as a patient tech, and she was able to see the social workers in actions, she said.
Following the panel discussion the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes march featured male faculty, staff and students from a variety of areas on campus who wore red high-heeled shoes, according to an NPC news release.
"The march takes place on college and university campuses around the country through the months of March and April annually. The march is a playful way to increase awareness for serious women's issues, including sexualized violence against women," the release said.
Local on 03/07/2020
2020-03-07 11:43:58Z
https://www.hotsr.com/news/2020/mar/07/npc-hosts-international-women-s-day-eve/
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