Judy Pokrak Pletcher

There are many unsung heroes that we never hear about. Judy may not win a Nobel peace prize or become a famous politician. While that may be disappointing to some people it isn't for Judy. Fortunately, she recognized early in her career that in order to become successful in one specific area of your life you often have to sacrifice other areas. In other words to be extremely successful in your professional life you have to cut a lot of corners in other areas. Fortunately, however, Judy is someone who has become successful in all facets of her life: professional, community and family.

There's no doubt that Judy could have been "successful" in the traditional professional sense. Her achievements during the early stages of her career were quite remarkable. She was quoted several times in the trade journal for her profession and every place she worked she was on a trajectory to the top. However, Judy realized that such success was coming with a high price in the form of a negative impact on the other areas of her life. Career oriented success is very satisfying since it is easily attributable to the person who is achieving such success. Yet Judy had the courage and conviction to step back and look honestly at the entire picture of her life and determine that her loved ones and community would suffer by continuing with such single-minded devotion to her own career. Judy had the fortitude to reassess what was best for those who surrounded her versus what was best for her career and taking a bold step resigned from her employer and acted on a game plan to improve the life of everyone around her.

As you can imagine this outlook has given Judy a unique perspective on life and relationships. She identified a field where she could continue to be involved in her field of choice yet work out of the home with increased flexibility. Will it earn her great publicity in trade journals anymore? No but Judy has realized there is more to life than "good press".

People may argue that by becoming a jack of all trades, you're the master of none. Yet by achieving success in a well-rounded balanced way Judy has really become an even bigger winner in life. Judy -- by accomplishing so many things in so many areas -- has become a well-rounded successful and loving wife, mother, daughter and friend... positively impacting a huge number of people. She's the epitome of the type of person that should be honored by Iowa State and its Carrie Chapman Catt Campaign. It is with great joy and pride that I place Judy's name on the Roll of Honor.

4/23/94