Co-workers of Kacy Webster, assistant dean of Graceland Univerity, say she was fated to work for the college. She grew up in Maine, went to college in New Hampshire, and met her husband, Corey, while on vacation in Florida. Corey was a native Iowan, so after the couple married and had their first child, they decided to move to the Hawkeye State. While packing, Webster was wrapping her dishes in pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education. She saw an advertisement for a position at Graceland University staring up at her from a page.

“I thought, ‘Hey, that’s in Des Moines, where we’re going,'” Webster said. “The position looked like it had all of the things I loved most about my old job without some of the things I didn’t like.”

She sent in her resume, and one week after arriving in Iowa had a job interview. The next week, she was hired to oversee the College of Professional Studies at Graceland. That was in June 2001.

“My job is, among other things, growing the site, enrollment, management, marketing,recruitment and making sure students are happy with their educational experience,” Webster said. “I love the challenge of running a business.” Webster has degrees in business and counseling. Working with students, she says, allows her “the best of both worlds.”

Webster admits it was rough at first. She knew little about Iowa, and her position required an in-depth knowledge of the Central Iowa market.

“Before I came, I barely knew Iowa from Idaho,” she said.

Among her first goals was to better acquaint herself with the Des Moines business community. Membership in the Greater Des Moines Partnership helped her fulfill that goal, especially since Graceland has joined the Partnership as co-sponsor of networking events.

Webster has other goals, including getting a doctorate in education, but she says that will have to take a back seat to her job and her family.

“I have to be sure I’m balancing things,” she said. “I have a 7-month-old and a 2-year-old. My husband is in real estate. He works out of his home office and takes care of the kids so I can have my career. He’s a saint.”