Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 2, 1992 TAG: 9201310088
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KAREN BROWN
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
HER RISK HAS PAID OFF
Four years ago, a friend suggested to Janice Black that she pursue a doctorate. She said, "No way."But that friend, Black's former professor from Appalachian State University, was persistent. He arranged for her to visit Virginia Tech, where he was working on his own degree.
The results were magical. "When I saw the campus, I had this feeling - this is great. It was real excitement," Black remembers.
Despite her enthusiasm, she was hesitant. She had a stable, well-paying job in Winston-Salem, N.C., and she wasn't sure how her decision would affect her daughter, Lindsey (now 9), whom Black was raising alone.
So Black decided, "I'll try it for a semester and see what happens."
That was more than three years ago. Black now is in her final year of study in a program she describes as "unique." Although she is in the College of Education, she works closely with the School of Business. She is studying corporate research combined with human resource and development; her doctoral studiescombined with her experience as a corporate manager help her "blend the practical and the theoretical" in her research, she said.
Jerald Robinson, a professor of management at Tech, is impressed with Black's efforts. He cited the "tremendous risk" Black took in attending graduate school, her desire to "reach out to learn as much as she can about business," and the ambitious work she has put into her dissertation and other projects. "The university is very fortunate to have her."
Recently, Black's hard work was rewarded. Early one morning last spring, the graduate school called to tell her she needed to arrange a time to have her picture taken. Black groggily asked the caller what she was talking about. "Oh, haven't you been told you've been awarded a Cunningham Fellowship?" the caller asked. Minutes later, Black was dancing around the room.
The Cunningham Fellowship, an honor that includes a monthly stipend, is awarded to eight Tech graduate students a year. Black was doubly honored: She was only the third student from the College of Education to receive the award, and that year she was the only woman.
With Robinson's help, Black recently sent a proposal to the American Society of Training and Development. Robinson described ASTD as a "prestigious organization" looking for "cutting-edge work." Although few scholars and, to Robinson's knowledge, no graduate students have made presentations to ASTD's national meeting, Black's proposal was accepted for this year's meeting. "It's quite an honor to be able to be in the program," Robinson said. For Black, the rewards of her honors have been even more significant. Because of the fellowship's stipend, Black can devote more time to her dissertation and, more importantly, to her daughter. "It's been a real blessing for me. The Cunningham has enabled me to be the kind of mother I've wanted to be."
Besides working diligently on her dissertation, Black also is involved in sports-related activities. Last summer she placed first in her age group in a biathlon. Perhaps even more challenging is her coaching position on daughter Lindsey's coed baseball team.
Baseball, she says, is a lot like the corporate environment. "The boys on the team are more competitive, and the girls are more cooperative." She hopes that as a female coach in a male-dominated sport, she can break stereotype and serve as a role model for both sexes.
Black especially hopes that through her doctoral studies she has become a role model for Lindsey: Black gave up a good salary in order to grow intellectually. "I did it to develop personally, to have more control over my career and my life. And these past 3 1/2 years, I've been happy - the happiest I've been in a long, long time."
Keywords:
PROFILE