Position:
Senior IT Project Manager
Organization:
Graduation Date: Dec, 1994
Degree Received: Interdisciplinary Studies: Environmental Policy & Planning with Anthro/SD minor
After graduating:
I was one of the first three students to go through the brand new SD program, because of Dr. Jeff Boyer. I am now in Minneapolis, MN, and work as a Senior IT Project Manager for Hennepin County. I am so proud of the growth this program has seen, and the expansion of what it is doing for ASU students and the community.
My current situation is:
Married to Travis for 19 years, with two children, Sophia age 13, Jamey age 15. Working full time as a Hennepin County IT Project Manager.
My proudest achievements since graduation:
2012 Champion of Change award, given by Hennepin County Administration and Board of Commissioners.
Board member for the Germanic-American Institute, St. Paul MN.
I work every day to make government more accessible to constituents, work better, and provide responsible stewardship of our monetary and other resources put into our care.
Lessons Learned:
The SD program helped me learn to be a systems thinker, to integrate information from all kinds of seemingly unrelated domains, to come up with original ideas, new realizations, and to find solutions to new and challenging problems. I don't know that I would be as facile with these approaches to my work and life if I had not been through the SD program in concert with what was called the IDS department back in the early 90s. My time and work at Appalachian taught me not just subject details and specific information, but it taught me how to think, how to process information, and how to work hard to see a future result. The value is not only in the subject expertise you walk out with, but the abilities that will let you become a lifelong explorer and discoverer.
Would you say your SD degree prepared you for life after college? Why or why not?:
I am proud of my unique degree, and that only three of us have this specific credential. I don't look at it as the IDS Envrionmental Policy & Planning major going defunct, but it merged and evolved, and became something even more marvelous. Students entering today are very lucky to have this grounded and established SD program to foster their knowledge and practical acquisition of new skills the world definitely needs more of. Learning how to learn, and how to learn deeply and quickly is a critical life skill in 2014, where there is more superficial pseudo-information around than we could have imagined in the 90s. Students today must acquire strong critical thinking and filtering skills.
Additional comments:
I could not be more proud of the little "SD program that could". I went into the program a city girl, unfamiliar with dirt, but armed with youthful fearlessness and curiosity. I came out of the program with a strong understanding of the interconnectedness and interdependency of everything on the earth, and an understanding that there are many ways to contribute to sustainability of all life on the planet.
Contact information:
sonya@calef.com
612-232-8005
Quote:
"The SD program helped me learn to be a systems thinker, to integrate information from all kinds of seemingly unrelated domains, to come up with original ideas, new realizations, and to find solutions to new and challenging problems. I don't know that I would be as facile with these approaches to my work and life if I had not been through the SD program in concert with what was called the IDS department back in the early 90s. My time and work at Appalachian taught me not just subject details and specific information, but it taught me how to think, how to process information, and how to work hard to see a future result. The value is not only in the subject expertise you walk out with, but the abilities that will let you become a lifelong explorer and discoverer.
Students entering today are very lucky to have this grounded and established SD program to foster their knowledge and practical acquisition of new skills the world definitely needs more of. Learning how to learn, and how to learn deeply and quickly is a critical life skill in 2014, where there is more superficial pseudo-information around than we could have imagined in the 90s. Students today must acquire strong critical thinking and filtering skills."