Interdisciplinary Studies Come Together for Businesswoman

Heather Wilson-Vinson built a successful career in corporate marketing, brand strategy marketing, employer branding and recruitment marketing over more than 20 years. What she didn’t have was a bachelor’s degree and, when she lost a client for that reason, she decided to do something about it.

“I was interviewing with a company for a role I really, really wanted,” Wilson-Vinson said. “I had a verbal offer on the table. They sent me all of the paperwork, and then they rescinded the offer because I didn’t have a degree. They felt horrible, but they just could not get the decision overwritten. I thought, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, and this is so silly.”

Wilson-Vinson travels internationally for work from her home in Eureka Springs. She’s married to Earl Vinson, a Navy veteran and former law enforcement officer, and has stepchildren and dogs. She was plenty busy but that decision stung.

She discovered the Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies offered online by the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. The degree was designed in part to help working adults who already have several college credits and want to finish a degree. Often, they can use those credits in a combination of three disciplines for a start on finishing up a bachelor’s degree begun years earlier.

That wasn’t the case for Wilson-Vinson, though. She had started college after high school but was interrupted by cancer and did not finish. She survived two more occurrences of cancer later.

“I chose this degree because it fit my goals to be able to dive into three specific disciplines, plus another minor, that were actually applicable to my work,” she said.

Her bachelor’s degree is made up of sociology, human resource and workforce development, and communication, with another minor in law studies, plus required core courses and electives. The three disciplines and fourth minor interwove beautifully, Wilson-Vinson said. As she explained it, sociology gave her a foundation in behavior, human resource and workforce development helped her to be a stronger partner to the teams she works with including human resources and recruitment, communication meshed with her background as a marketer, and law studies expanded knowledge she needs for contract negotiation and other employment law issues.

Learning how to recognize and address implicit bias from preconceived notions, for example, came up in more than one discipline, she said. Students learned not to rely on emotion when making decisions.

“Here's how to look at it from this angle and be objective,” Wilson-Vinson said. “That just strengthens you. And, so, it just felt very natural for me to go ahead and do interdisciplinary studies because the work I do is interdisciplinary.”

Wilson-Vinson also believes the degree allowed her to work with high-quality faculty in multiple programs, she said. Christopher Shields, teaching associate professor in sociology and criminology, could teach a course for incoming faculty on how to teach online, Vinson-Wilson said.

“He’s phenomenal, engaging, funny and giving of his time,” she recalled. “He made that class so interesting and fun.”

“The faculty set a very high bar,” she said. “It challenges you to dig deeper and really know the material.”

Mandel Samuels, teaching assistant professor of human resource development, brought in guest speakers to share their knowledge.

“They were doing the work that some of us wanted to be doing,” Wilson-Vinson said. “And wow, this person is sitting here taking questions from us. It just showed that the faculty understand our goals beyond graduation. Learning new things at the age of 47 felt like it was so much more meaningful this time around.”

Samuels told her something that stuck with her and helped her persist through challenging times.

“I told him I’m very happy with how far I’ve gotten,” Wilson-Vinson said. “There’s this one thing that I just didn’t finish, and I said to him, you know, I’ll be less than two weeks from my 48^th birthday when I graduate. What am I doing? And, he said to me, you’re going to be turning 48 anyway, with or without the degree so whether you have it or not is your choice. So, on those days where it was overwhelming because I’m human, when I was on a plane to London and they had no wireless, that got me through.”

Wilson-Vinson informed professors in advance when she traveled overseas and over multiple time zones. She asked if she could work ahead. She scheduled her homework every week, carving out windows of time so she could take Mondays off from school and also have free time on the weekends.

“That's why it's nice to be an online student, because you really can design school around your schedule, not the other way around,” she said. “And it doesn’t interfere with your work, and that’s also just so nice because none of us want to lose clients or lose jobs or do things halfway on either side of things. It really allows you to look and say, OK, here’s how I could be the best professional. Here’s how I can be the best wife. Here’s how I can be the best student this week. And then just having the support of my husband, of course.”

She advised prospective students who may be in their 40s like her not to be intimidated by learning new systems. Everything was new once.

“You’d be surprised how much you can do if you open up and be willing to ask for help,” Wilson-Vinson said. “The resources are incredible. Have a discussion with other people who have gone through it and faculty in the areas you may want to study.”

On stage at commencement, Wilson-Vinson felt pride in her accomplishment while also great appreciation for everyone who helped her get there.

Wilson-Vinson’s mother is Colombian. Her father was recovering from surgery at the time of commencement so her parents watched the ceremony online from their home in Florida. Additional family watched from South America, cheering Wilson-Vinson, who wore a stole with her graduation robe that featured an American flag on one side and a Colombian flag on the other side.

Less than three weeks after spring commencement, Wilson-Vinson started graduate school at the U of A, working on a master’s degree in human resource development. She figures she will go for a doctorate someday, too.

And the company that turned her down because she didn’t have a degree? It is now Wilson-Vinson’s client.