Harper College honors distinguished alumni

Rolling Meadows Fire Chief Ronald Stewart always dreamed of being a firefighter, but now he has a new feather in his cap, that of a Harper College distinguished alumni.

Stewart was one of five inducted last week at the Palatine community college, during a formal reception held with its administrators. The others are: Shirley Garrison, former public relations director at Alexian Brothers Medical Center; Robin Turpin, a senior director at Baxter Healthcare; Beverly Goodman, a geo-archaeologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Tom Schnecke, a vice president for CBS 2 in Chicago.

As a career firefighter, Stewart admits feeling a bit uncomfortable with being in the spotlight, but he concedes his story represents the trend in public safety: that higher education makes the difference when it comes to promotions.

"When you combine on-the-job experience with the education and knowledge you get in college level courses," Stewart says, "it gives you the edge to meet the challenges of the modern day fire industry."

Coming out of Fremd High School, Stewart completed EMT and paramedic courses before landing a job with the Rolling Meadows Fire Department at the age of 21. He thought his job history would earn him a shot at promotions.

It wasn't until he met Sam Giordano, who heads Harper's Fire Science program, that he contemplated studying for his applied associate degree.

"He really advocated veteran firefighters getting their degrees," Stewart says, "not only to be competitive for reviews, but to gain added skills and knowledge of the industry."

His education made the difference, he said, in getting the nod as deputy chief of his department before later being named chief. After completing his associate degree at Harper, Stewart earned his bachelor's degree in June from DePaul University.

Today, the department that Steward leads requires an associate degree at the lieutenant level and a bachelor's for higher rankings. As a result, many of his front-line supervisors are enrolled in Harper's fast track degree program for their associate degrees.

"Many people are intimidated by the idea of going back to school, but you have to take that leap of faith," Stewart says. "The reality is, without higher education, your opportunities are limited."

Shirley Garrison

Garrison, of Arlington Heights, dates her connection to Harper back to 1970, when as a returning student she enrolled in journalism courses. She already had a marketing degree from the University of Illinois, but more than 20 years later, as a recent divorcee with three children, she was determined to make a life on her own.

With other single moms, Garrison became one of the first faces of what would evolve into Harper's Women's Program. While taking her courses, she helped college officials promote the program to local women's groups.

Her journalism courses and job experience earned Garrison a job in public relations with Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, where she worked her way up to director.

Now retired, Garrison continues to remain enrolled in Harper courses, this time in its Lifelong Learning Institute, where this fall she signed up for 10 new classes.

Robin Turpin

Robin Turpin, of Lake Zurich, is now Senior Director of Global Health Economics, IV Nutrition for Baxter Healthcare.

In the 1970s, it was at Harper where she first discovered her love of psychology, after starting out in pre-med.

"An enormous benefit of Harper is that you are able to explore a variety of career options, and then refocus as necessary," says Turpin.

She went onto complete her core courses before transferring to Loyola University, where she ultimately obtained a doctorate in Applied Social Psychology.

In the 1980s, Turpin returned to Harper to teach psychology, before taking posts with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Merck & Co, Inc.

Tom Schnecke

Schnecke, presently vice president of Broadcast Operations/Engineering for CBS 2 in Chicago, says Harper's electronics engineering technology program helped him focus his career path.

At Harper, while taking classes in that field Schnecke became involved with the college's young radio station. He went on to serve as WHCM's adviser and he helped lay the groundwork for an FCC license and propel the station on to the FM dial.

Since graduating from Harper, Schnecke earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia College and a master's in Radio/TV/Film from Northwestern University. He spent over 20 years at NBC before joining CBS 2 in 2003.

Beverly Goodman

Goodman works as a geo-archaeologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. She attended Harper in 1992 and 1993.

Goodman is a coastal geo-archaeologist using underwater excavations to study the ancient history of coastlines in the Mediterranean, but she credits her anthropology course at Harper with opening the door to her life's work.

She later transferred to the University of Wisconsin to major in anthropology, before ultimately earning a doctorate in geology from McMaster University. Her summers spent on an Israeli excavation site helped earn her a Fulbright Scholarship to study in there for a year, where she eventually chose to launch her career.

"The foundation I received at Harper, more than prepared me," Goodman says. "It was fantastic."