I AM UAA: Josie Wilson

M.B.A. '09
Assistant Professor, College of Business and Public Policy
Hometown: Orange County, CA
Fun Facts: Loves swing dancing and is tri-lingual in English, Spanish and American Sign Language

When Josie Wilson was a little girl, instead of playing "school," she played "professor." Even at a very young age, she knew that some day she wanted to be "Dr. Josie," with academic credentials to her name that reflected her passion for teaching and learning.

"I like to create," she says. "I just love providing opportunities for people to learn and engage and be equipped, whether it's in the academic setting, in the private sector or even at my church. That's very much a part of who I am."

Josie moved to Anchorage in 2003 from Southern California with a B.S. in Marketing and Management from Chapman University. Coming to Alaska on a one-year contract through ARAMARK Corporation as a location manager and marketing specialist for UAA's Creekside Commons dining program, Josie-as is typical of most transplants- says, "I ended up staying longer than expected."

One year has turned into almost a decade.

From ARAMARK and UAA she transitioned to working for the Sheraton and Hilton hotels as a catering sales manager for the next two years, which is where she was exposed to her current employer, The Salvation Army.

"I was their hotel contact for events," she says. "And I fell in love with what they do and what their mission is all about."

So in 2005 she applied for a community relations director position with The Salvation Army and has since become the community relations and development director. As part of the executive leadership team, Josie has made the most of connecting with the Anchorage community on a deeper level.

"The culture of Alaska is wonderful and I believe that the only reason we have this fantastic culture is that we have a strong sense of community," she says. "From some of the informal norms to the way that we relate to each other and communicate and share, I really think that community involvement is what makes Alaskans, Alaskans. My personal philosophy is that each one of us has gifts, talents, abilities and a heart that is unique to us. And it is our responsibility to utilize those for the benefit of humanity. That, for me, is how I look at philanthropy."

Sitting on the boards of four or five local nonprofit organizations, teaching violin to underprivileged kids, and connecting to her community and friends through learning languages is just a (large) handful of ways Josie lives that personal philosophy.

When it comes to her lifelong dream of a Ph.D., she did consider bypassing an M.B.A. program altogether. "But UAA is so conducive to accommodating professional working students that I absolutely signed up," says Josie about her impressions of the university after checking out a few classes as a non-degree seeking student first. "I was impressed by the quality, affordability and accommodations at UAA. My professors remembered students' names, gave us individual attention and were obviously passionate about what they did."

With M.B.A. now in hand, Wilson has applied to four institutions Outside for her doctorate. Specifically, she wants to focus her research on organizational behavior to develop a formula to measure philanthropic impact on communities.

"We talk about what are the impacts of financial giving, resource giving, time, volunteerism, and abilities, and to be able to measure those impacts would valuable," she says. "And the nonprofit sector has a lot of applicable management, strategy, organizational structure and design that is unique to those organizations. There are lots of research opportunities there between the two."

In the meantime, while she waits for acceptance letters, Josie is living her dream. Maybe not as Dr. Josie quite yet, but in an adjunct professor position at UAA that marks the beginning of what will hopefully be a lifelong teaching career.