激情成为职业

Elizabeth Buch ’20, ’21 MSL has been advocating for marginalized communities long before it became her career.

The importance of diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) became clear early on in Elizabeth’s life.

“I grew up in a single parent household. My mother immigrated here from Mexico, and Spanish was my first language,” shared Elizabeth.

Her and her family members’ experiences reinforced for Elizabeth the importance of providing support for marginalized people. 当伊丽莎白看到有机会将她对倡导的兴趣扩展到她在柯林斯航空航天公司的职业生涯时，她抓住了这个机会。

教育使伊丽莎白有机会进一步提高她的职业技能。 2013年，她开始在柯克伍德社区学院上课。 Her passion for learning was reignited, and she decided to finish her bachelor’s degree at 皇冠体育.

“I knew Kirkwood and Mount Mercy worked really well together to transfer credits, and I knew people who went to Mount Mercy that spoke very highly of it, so going to Mount Mercy was kind of a no-brainer for me,” shared Elizabeth.

这个速成项目使伊丽莎白能够在继续全职工作的同时继续攻读学位。 这意味着伊丽莎白能够实时练习她的新技能。

“What really stuck out to me was that the classes aligned with the positions I was in as I was going to school—I thought that was perfect, to be able to take that skill and bring it to my every day work,” said Elizabeth.

It was in her Corporate Social Responsibility class that Elizabeth first heard about Mount Mercy’s 战略领导硕士 (MSL) program.

“The way they talked about, it sounded really interesting,” shared Elizabeth. “So, I kept that piece of paper for over a year, and when I graduated, I grabbed that paper to see what it was all about.”

对伊丽莎白来说，获得MSL提供了一个获得有意义的技能的机会，这些技能与她的倡导事业直接相关。

2021年，伊丽莎白被任命为锡达拉皮兹市的第一位DEI经理。 The creation of the role reflected the city’s growing focus on DEI.

“This first year has really been focused on building awareness on what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean,” said Elizabeth. “Then understanding what processes and programs we already do in the city, so we can find ways to embed within that before just starting a bunch of new things.”

The tools Elizabeth gained during her master’s program were helpful in this new role. 倾听、沟通和谈判都是她了解公司并开始提出新想法的关键。 

“Strategic leadership came so much into play with this position because you really do have to think about it in a very strategic way,” shared Elizabeth.

“战略领导力在这个职位上发挥了很大的作用，因为你确实必须从非常战略的角度来考虑它。” – 伊丽莎白·布赫，20年，21年

Listening has been a huge part of Elizabeth’s role. 她分享了她在进入新职位时收到的一些最好的建议，并鼓励在读学生也把这些建议付诸实践。

“When you are in a new space, take the time to listen to those who are in the room and understand what is going on around you,” said Elizabeth. “我们有一种强大的能力来提高我们的意识，如果我们只是停下来倾听。”