Kathy Council has worked in data and analytics for nearly 40 years. These days, that\u2019s an astonishing tenure for almost anyone in any kind of career, but it\u2019s a particularly rare instance for a woman in computer science, a field where women are persistently underrepresented.<\/p>\n
Council currently serves as vice president of the publications division at SAS, a North Carolina-based developer of analytics software. She has been with the multinational corporation almost since its inception. As a student working on a master\u2019s in statistics at North Carolina State University in the early 1970s, she became acquainted with the Statistical Analysis System, a university-based project aimed at analyzing agricultural research. Hired in 1977 (she was among the first 10 employees after the project was spun off as a for-profit company), Council went on to become SAS\u2019s first female vice president. The company now has more than 14,000 employees and generated more than $3 billion in revenue in 2015.<\/p>\n
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When SAS recently publicized a scholarship that would allow a handful of employees to pursue a degree through Capella University\u2019s FlexPath format, she took notice and applied. She didn\u2019t get the scholarship award, but her research into FlexPath convinced her that the self-paced format fit her needs. Last year, she enrolled. \u201cI\u2019d always considered going back to school for an MBA, but most programs seemed too theoretical,\u201d Council says. \u201cCapella\u2019s approach seemed different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, given that her most recent classroom experience was decades ago, Council was worried about what lay ahead. \u201cI wondered, \u2018What is an online classroom going to be like? Is there such a thing?\u2019\u201d she says. Council also worried about fitting in, given her age and experience.<\/p>\n
But Council found the FlexPath experience to be just what she needed. \u201cThe program couldn\u2019t be more perfect for me,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of it is about writing papers\u2014and I\u2019m good at that. I like doing that\u2014and if I get up in the middle of the night and want to work on an assignment, I can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, there are days (and nights) when Council is swamped at work and doesn\u2019t much feel like doing assignments after hours or on weekends. But prompts from Capella keep her on track and motivated, she says. \u201cMostly I just need to get started. Once I\u2019m into it, I\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Council was motivated to get her MBA to further in her knowledge, even beyond the business acumen that she gained through her tenured career.\u00a0 She says that \u201cI\u2019m learning way more about aspects of business that I was only slightly involved in. The things I\u2019m learning are helping me with a higher level, bigger picture understanding. I\u2019m benefiting greatly by all this new information.\u201d<\/p>\n
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SAS has been supportive of Council\u2019s decision to enroll in FlexPath, and her supervisor has taken a keen interest in her progress\u2014mostly because he\u2019s also considering going back to school. The value of the education is readily apparent, she says. Almost daily, she finds ways to apply what she has learned in the classroom to her workplace environment. \u201cIn many ways, my education gives me insight into things that might be on the minds of other leaders, including the CEO.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without the incentive of the FlexPath format, which allows students to proceed at their own pace, Council says she probably wouldn\u2019t have been motivated to go back for an MBA. The time investment otherwise seemed formidable, and going to school while also handling a job seemed like a challenge. But Council says she\u2019s glad she made the decision to enroll at Capella and would recommend it to other business leaders without hesitation. \u201cIt\u2019s just so much fun!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Learn more about <\/em>FlexPath<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe program couldn\u2019t be more perfect for me.\u201d Kathy Council, a vice president at SAS, shares why FlexPath has been a perfect fit for her and her employer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":5287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[73,151],"tags":[34,53,31,16,125],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5286,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5284\/revisions\/5286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgwww.capella.edu\/blogs\/cublog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}See graduation rates, median student debt, and other information at Capella Results<\/a>.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"