FOR RELEASE: Thursday, April 19, 2007
Newsome Looks Forward to Graduation
Mary Newsome
Mary Newsome has worked at the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton for nearly 26 years, the past 16 as administrative assistant to Chancellor Nathan Crook. Her dream now is to teach there someday.
She had heard fellow employees at the college talk about enrolling in the human resource development program offered by distance learning from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. They encouraged her to enroll in the bachelor's degree completion program designed for working people. "Chancellor Crook has also been very supportive," she said.
"I was scared to death," Newsome recalled during the human resource development cohort weekend March 30-31 in Fayetteville. "I thought, 'I can't do it,' but I prayed about it, and now I am going to graduate in May 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree."
As a child, Newsome wanted to be a nurse, secretary or a teacher. After graduating with an associate degree in Business Education from Petit Jean Vocational Technical School in Morrilton, Ark., Newsome started her first job in 1981 as a secretary to the Director of Student Services A.O. Thompson and after six years was promoted to administrative assistant. The vocational school became Petit Jean Technical College in 1991. In 1997, the college again made a name change to Petit Jean College, and it later merged with the University of Arkansas System in 2001 to become the University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton.
Newsome has not ruled out teaching once she obtains a master's degree.
"I think I'll turn somersaults when I walk at graduation," Newsome said. "My husband has been a big supporter. If it wasn't for him, I could not have done it. He never complained about my having to study."
The couple has a son and a daughter, Derrick and Ciera, and they are proud of their mom for continuing her education.
"It is a challenge," Newsome acknowledged. "There is so much work to do in addition to my job, church, and family. If you have any kind of social life, drop it. I vowed I would not neglect my family."
The most challenging and stressful thing about the program is trying to meet class deadlines, but the faculty members understand, Newsome said. "They have been nothing but encouraging since Day 1."
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Contact:
Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
(479) 575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu