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Beene: Degree Opens Doors in Education, Industry

Linda Beene considers a doctoral degree necessary for leadership and administrative roles in the field of education today. As director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, she counsels others about her belief, helping employees take classes toward advanced degrees and taking the chance whenever she can to promote higher education during speaking engagements.

She addressed graduates this year of the Arkansas School for Math, Science and the Arts on a theme she uses frequently: "Education is the only asset in life that will be yours forever."

Beene began her state-level career in the 1970s as associate director at the Arkansas Department of Education followed by experiences of creating two state agencies with missions of higher education and economic development. She has been appointed twice to Gov. Mike Huckabee's Cabinet.

As director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, Beene coordinates academic programs and accountability for the state's 33 public colleges and universities, guides state and federal funding efforts and the administration of $30 million in state scholarships.

Over the past three decades, she has been a teacher and both a university and two-year college administrator having held appointments at the University of Central Arkansas, Henderson State University and the University of Arkansas campuses at Fort Smith and Helena.

Beene began work on her doctoral degree in 1983, leaving her home in central Arkansas to complete a campus residency and receiving the doctor of education from the UA College of Education and Health Professions in 1985.

It was called the College of Education then, and the Fayetteville campus was the only institution of higher learning granting doctoral degrees in education at the time. For many people, the choice of a graduate school depends heavily on the relationship with its faculty members. Former college faculty members such as Dr. Marvin Fairman and Dr. Dean Clayton drew her to Fayetteville rather than going out of state, Beene said.

Fairman's course in organizational behavior stimulated her interest in the concept and resulted in her dissertation topic. She examined the importance of focusing on goals within an organization, the first of 10 measurements of organizational health.

"Level of goal focus is the foundation of organizational health," Beene explained. "As validated in research conducted by University of Arkansas doctoral students, understanding of goals in an organization is the basis for functioning effectively."

Using this instrument has since allowed her to apply her knowledge of organizational assessment and training both in an educational and industrial setting, compounding the value of the degree to Beene. She has used vacation days to work as a consultant providing organizational development and training for Fortune 500 companies, including Georgia Pacific Corp.

"I have had the opportunity to share my education with friends who work in industry," she said. "I have been able to offer my learning and my skills as solutions to particular problems they had in industry."

Companies with divisions separated geographically can have an especially hard time communicating their goals to all employees, Beene said.

"An organizational health instrument prescribes for us as managers the corrective actions we need to take to solve problems caused by people in an organization being geographically spread out," she said.

"My doctoral degree has opened many doors, not only in education, but in industry. Clearly, I would not have held the same professional positions without it."

Contact:

Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
(479) 575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu

Page last updated: 7/6/2006 15:04

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