>> Well, I first came to the university as an undergrad, when I was 17 and then I came back,
completed my undergraduate degree, I earned my master's degree at the University
of Delaware as well as my doctorate.
What attracted me to the campus initially was, and I came here from Philadelphia,
I really thought that it was a beautiful campus, it was welcoming and I just felt
like it was a place where I wanted to come and study.
It felt, it felt comfortable and safe and different than the experience
that I had growing up in Philadelphia.
So I really liked it.
I had a scholarship, an academic scholarship, at least the beginning part of that,
and I really had a good experience for my undergraduate
and I did that degree in education.
And so I felt that when it was time to come back to study in the graduate program,
I chose a master's in public administration and had the best experience in graduate school.
That was just phenomenal.
Well, I actually started my consulting business right around the time
that I was earning my master's degree and it was something that because of the work
that I was doing early, the earlier part of my career which was in government administration
and management, and to some extent, evaluation and planning, which is kind of,
those are core elements of the business that I have, I thought I really would like to do this
as a consultant one day, to be able to have a business somehow in doing this.
So it was an early vision that I had to have my own business and work somehow with people
in planning and so it was a vision that I pursued,
and I consciously pursued the academic credentials that would allow me to do that,
coupled with the career experience that also provided me with the kinds of knowledge
and experience areas that I knew that I would need in order to be
on my own and run this kind of business.