Individual Assignment Two: Interview with Dr. Sweet-Cushman

My interviewee this week was Dr. Jennie Sweet-Cushman, who is the Assistant Director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women in Politics and Assistant Professor for the Social Sciences Department at Chatham University. I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Sweet-Cushman through my social science orientation, and I later found out that she was my academic advisor as well, so I will have many other opportunities to speak with her throughout my career here at Chatham.

            My first few questions for Dr. Sweet-Cushman related to her background before she started working at Chatham. From a young age, Dr. Sweet-Cushman loved politics, as she grew up in a household where her parents were very attentive to the news, elections, and constantly talked about policy. I learned that she grew up in a suburb of Detroit, spending most of her time there feeling like her family was part of the “lower-class” of the cul-de-sac. Later, when she was 14, she moved to a rural area in Michigan, and went to a small high school much like my own. However, during this time, she experienced a huge turning point in her life: she took advantage of the opportunity to intern for her state Congressman’s district office. Dr. Sweet-Cushman’s love of politics explains why she enjoyed going to college at Lake Superior State University, where she learned first-hand how to take control of her future; she started by running for Parliamentarian of her college’s student government, and miraculously won the popular vote even though she had only been in school for three weeks! In addition to this feat, she was also Programming Board Director, edited her school’s newspaper and became President of both Lake Superior University’s College Democrats club as well as the Political Science club. Dr. Sweet-Cushman loved attending college because she said she enjoyed the small school, and that it was perfect for her being a “big fish in a small pond”.

            As for her advice for me on how to buckle down and do well in college, Dr. Sweet-Cushman first explained to me why it was especially important for her to succeed in college: because she knew that she had no other option as a teen mother. After having a child in high school, Dr. Sweet-Cushman refused to get sidetracked by the diversions in college. For example, she never partied, and focused her attention on the multitudes of extracurricular activities that she was part of. She told me that “juggling raising a child, work, and school forced me to be really structured”, and I felt a great deal of respect for this strong work ethic she exhibited; I felt that I would never be able to focus with so many external stimuli! She explained to me that “school, social life, and responsibilities were all one thing”, meaning that she enjoyed everything she did. Dr. Sweet-Cushman is the example of someone who took advantage of the multiple extracurricular opportunities offered on campus, and told me that it is important to put your whole heart into these because getting involved in activities that one is passionate moves them closer to becoming more advanced in her career; in addition, she stressed to me that a successful college career consists of students taking every opportunity available to them to go out into not only their college campus, but also the community they live in, to make a difference through internships, jobs, and volunteer work. Getting involved on campus and in one’s community also pertains to creating a wider array of positions to list on one’s resume or portfolio. Therefore, not only does getting involved give a person more job experience, but it also creates a “positive feedback loop”, where the more experience one can list on their portfolio, the more qualified they will look for other career opportunities. Finally, when asked about how to use time management to effectively budget time for travelling abroad and internship, Dr. Sweet-Cushman kept it simple: “Having a long-term plan for that (studying abroad or internship opportunities) would be helpful”. Overall, Dr. Sweet-Cushman emphasized that the best things she did in college were all driven by her passion for using her voice to make change, and that being involved on campus and in one’s surrounding communities makes a world of difference.

Lastly, I found that Dr. Sweet-Cushman’s love for being involved on campus did not die whenever she graduated; even now, she is one of the most engaged Professors at Chatham with her life equally split between teaching students and also working as Assistant Director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women in Politics. In addition to this, Dr. Sweet-Cushman spends her time working with a board of other professors to determine whether research projects conducted at Chatham are ethical, assisting with the Sexual Violence Prevention Committee at Chatham, as well as holding the title of faculty liaison for the Chatham Boys Lacrosse team. Dr. Sweet-Cushman’s life is the example of how empowered, well-spoken, and strong women can contribute wonderful things to the world with their ideas; Her story inspires me to use my voice to change the world.

With this information in mind, I compared my interview results with an alumna spotlight article on Joanne Peterson. The first primary difference I noticed between Dr. Sweet-Cushman and Mrs. Joanne Peterson was the fact that while they both studied social sciences, Mrs. Peterson stood out as an entrepreneur because she created her own business called Abator, which works to “terminate information technology, project engagement, and diversity certification problems” (Chatham Entrepreneurship Dept, 2016). Even with these differences, Dr. Sweet-Cushman and Mrs. Peterson have a lot in common; they both care deeply about women’s rights and equality. Mrs. Peterson’s company, Abator, is “ninety-four percent women owned and operated”, and Dr. Sweet-Cushman works for this equality in the workplace every day through her position as the Assistant Director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (Chatham Entrepreneurship Dept, 2016). In addition to this, Dr. Sweet Cushman’s position on the Sexual Violence Prevention Committee also shows her similar passion for creating a safer and fairer workplace for women, and Mrs. Peterson also strives to benefit a similar cause by working for the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship. This similarity in both of these wonderful women’s passions reminds me of our class’s guest speaker, Mrs. Rebecca Harris, who coincidentally also works for the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship. She told the class a riveting story about how she overcame a lot of hardships in her life in order to create her own magazine, and this reminds me of Dr. Sweet-Cushman and Mrs. Peterson’s story; after hearing from all three of these women, it is obvious that a simple gender cannot hold someone back from accomplishing great things. In fact, sometimes, it pushes a person to be better, to prove people wrong, and to make a name for themselves.

References

Chatham Entrepreneurship Department, B. A. (2016, April 19). Alumna Spotlight: Joanne

 Peterson '86. Retrieved October 11, 2018, from http://blogs.chatham.edu/businessblogs/2016/04/19/alumna-spotlight-joanne-peterson-86/