My Mentors

Jewel Limar Prestage, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus, School of Public Policy, and Urban Affairs – Southern University, Baton Rouge; and Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Retired, Prairie View A&M University: Dr. Prestage was one of my most distinguished professors during my freshman year at Southern University, chairing my Freshman Honors Colloquium class which was made up of a cross-section of students who were valedictorian or salutatorian of their high school classes or other honor students who had scored extremely high on the college entrance examinations. Colloquium was a weekly research seminar which focused on us, the world of Political Science and some other general subjects, all above the characteristics of the traditional curriculum programs.  We all were impressed by how astute, articulate, and knowledgeable Dr. Prestage was in the Political Sciences of our world and how she led us toward agile responsibilities for patriotism for our nation.  When Dr. Prestage heard of my challenges in the Federal Government, she wrote me a letter in 2007, which I shall always cherish.  She wrote: “Your high-level academic achievements coupled with your strong stand on ethical and professional principles are representative of the goals undergirding the Honors program and I applaud your long-term commitment not only in theory but in your life’s work.  I remember you were not reluctant to speak up in Colloquium and therefore I am not totally surprised that you have become a “change agent” – a creature of conscious -one who moves in tune with the beat of a different drummer!”  The letter of support and encouragement has meant so very much to me and I hold its content dear to my heart from a giant of a professor, from my roots, who first gave me my critical insights into the need for leadership agility in the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world that I would soon inherit in my future career life.  Dr. Prestage helped to frame my vision for the citizenry.

Mr. Anthony M. (Tony) Valletta, Program Executive Officer and SES (Senior Executive Service), U.S. Army:  I was his first Procurement Advisor when he was Program Executive Officer (PEO) Standard Army Management Information Systems (STAMIS).  Mr. Valletta quickly recognized my capabilities and my commitment to his mission, which generated trust in my expertise and my advice.  As a Role Model in Public Service, Mr. Valetta jump-started my journey toward becoming a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES).  He believed that I had the potential to manage and lead in the development of the government’s major information and weapon systems and with that insight he made sure that aside from my major contributions to his Program and Project Managers, that I also would be given the time to become proficient in the totality of Program/Project Management skills by sponsoring me to attend the Defense Systems Management College’s Project Management Course in 1990.  He trusted me to be his procurement and contracting problem-solver, representing him on many critical issues at his various field sites, to hear the issues and use my critical thinking abilities to help resolve them to his satisfaction.  It is nothing like having a trusting boss who generates trust in you with his staff.

Dr. Christine Hayes Chapman Minor, the first African American female tenured Professor at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1976, two years prior to her death at only 46 years old in 1978; with a Doctoral Degree in Linguistics and Chaucerian English.  Dr. Minor was my oldest sister, 12 years my senior, who gave me the determination early in my life that “I CAN be what anyone else is or can be.”  I adopted her “I Can” philosophy: symbolized by an “I Can” can she gave me to set on the table beside my bed (a pink-painted can with a metal “eye” on a rod welded in its center).  I learned from her: “The world steps aside for anyone who knows where she is going” and because of the “I Can” philosophy my sister instilled in me, my challenge in life has never been “Can I”—but “When.”  My sister set an extremely high bar of excellence for her five siblings.  She was my English teacher in my junior and senior years of high school.  She made me perform serious orations, like the “Death of Madame Defarge” from A Tale of Two Cities.  Even today I can recite the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in Chaucerian English.  She was an Academician, a Scholar, a student motivator, and a sought-after renown speaker in her field.  I was a strong competitor of my sister’s accomplishments with a 12-year difference in our ages.  In 1950. My sister graduated Valedictorian of her class.  In 1962, 12 years after my sister graduated Valedictorian of her high school class, I also graduated as Valedictorian of my high school class.  I also went to Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and graduated in 1965 in three years as my sister had done a dozen years before me.  I finished with the class ahead of my 1966 class, graduating #1 in that class with Magna Cum Laude distinction.  I had also completed a teaching Bachelor of Science degree, but in Mathematics instead of English.  Like my sister, I pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority in the Alpha Tau Chapter of Southern University, making us also “sisters” in Delta Sigma Theta.  All that I did was to follow my sister’s footsteps and the high bar of excellence she set for us all.  Even today, I am presently serving as Assistant Professor, Mathematics at Northern Virginia Community College.  In her short life she laid out extraordinary goals for me.