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Graduate degrees and disaster relief

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Carol Grant rarely goes to the sites of national emergencies nowadays. She isn’t required to, and her job as executive director of the Central Iowa chapter of the American Red Cross keeps her busy.

In recent years, her off-duty hours been taken up by classes and homework for the University of Iowa’s evening M.B.A. program. Grant carves out the necessary time just often enough, she says, to remind her of the Red Cross’ mission and the people out in the field whom she works for in her office every day.

“It keeps it really fresh in my mind,” Grant said.

The last national disaster she responded to was the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. It was a busy time for her, between leading her organization and taking two classes in the University of Iowa’s evening M.B.A. program. While she was in Washington, D.C., helping the families and co-workers of victims of the crash, she continued her school work, even taking tests online.

Grant was deployed as assistant officer for human resources, but was reassigned as an assistant in the service center.

In an emergency, such as a house fire, the Red Cross comes to the scene and makes sure the homeowners have a place to stay. The organization helps them find clothes or grocery money and later makes sure they have things they need in their everyday lives, like beds. This was different, because the Pentagon was not only a disaster site, but a crime scene and a military base, as well. Many of the Red Cross’ usual responsibilities were taken on by the military.

“We were mainly there to help people work through their problems,” she said. “It wasn’t about a home lost. And this was a different kind of grief, a kind I had not experienced before… how people struggle to find closure when there are no remains.”

Grant grew up in Iowa, and received a bachelor’s degree in education from Iowa State University in 1971. She then spent 10 years substitute teaching, which gave her time to raise her children.

When the youngest entered first grade, Grant began seeking full-time employment. Grant found it with the Red Cross, which hired her as executive director of an office in Muscatine, where she oversaw one employee. There Grant learned about all aspects of the organization’s work, because she had to do almost everything herself.

In 1987, Grant moved to Cedar Rapids, which was her base of operations for her new job as a field services manager for the Red Cross. Her primary responsibility was to make sure that the chapters in her territory had the resources they needed from the national organization and were doing what was necessary to fulfill the Red Cross’ requirements.

In 1989 she became a national responder and soon after an instructor of national courses. Grant wishes she had expanded her involvement sooner.

“It means taking on more work, but it’s a change of pace and an opportunity to meet others and to learn,” she said. “That’s when your opportunities multiply, opportunities to enhance both your personal satisfaction and your career potential.”

In 1992, she joined the Central Iowa chapter in Des Moines as executive director. Two years later, she realized she wanted to get a master’s degree. At first she delayed enrolling in school because she was busy with her teenage children. Then, they entered college, and she had their tuition to deal with. In the fall of 2000, she got her turn. She received her M.B.A. in December. Now she looks forward to spending more time with her husband, Jerry, although he is about to begin graduate school at Drake University.

“He’s been cooking supper for the last 3 1/2 years,” she said. “I’m trying to avoid going back to it. I tell him, ‘I cooked the first thirty years!'”

Grant says working with the Red Cross, she is continually astounded by how freely Americans, Iowans in particular, give their time and expertise to help others. The last few years have not been easy ones for the organization, however, and it is in need of assistance.

“The stock market may have rebounded,” she said, “but charitable giving has not.”

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