From Community Partner鈥檚 Mental Health in Dover, New Hampshire, to the YMCA in Chicago, Illinois, and then to the Salvation Army鈥檚 Kroc Center in South Bend, Indiana, Sharon Dutkowski has 25+ years working in nonprofit organizations that have fueled her passion for preparing youth for their careers. After starting at 糖心传媒 in January 2022 as an adjunct professor in the School of Behavioral Sciences, Sharon is now a full-time faculty member and the school鈥檚 director of internships for those getting degrees in behavioral sciences.
Get to know a little more about Professor Dutkowski!聽
1. What is your educational background?
I graduated with my BS in business administration and psychology from American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Then, I earned an MS degree in human services with a concentration in organizational management from Springfield College in Massachusetts.
2. As a New Englander, what brought you to the Midwest?
I lived in New England for 37 years. My husband worked as a guidance counselor for Portsmouth Christian Academy near our house in Dover, New Hampshire, and I never thought we鈥檇 move. A few years after Bill started working there, the school鈥檚 principal took the position of Headmaster at Christian Heritage Academy in the northern suburbs of Chicago, and two years later, asked my husband to join him and help build a new school. We initially said no. But every time we came up with a reason to stay, God knocked it down. For example, we didn鈥檛 have the money at the time to physically relocate our family of six halfway across the country. We brought it before God, and within ten minutes, we received a phone call from the school; a donor had heard about our situation and donated the exact amount of money we needed to move. So we moved to Northbrook, Illinois, and I started working at the YMCA.
3. Tell us about your experience at the Kroc Center and how that position translates to teaching.聽
While I was working at the YMCA, Kroc Centers were opening all over the place. My husband and I knew people in the Salvation Army, and so I applied for the position in South Bend. They were just starting from the ground up, so there were a lot of ways to get involved there.聽
I held many positions, but my last role was Director of Operations. Together with the Salvation Army officers, we worked to get the mission of the Kroc Center at the forefront 鈥 which is all about Jesus 鈥 and tying that into leadership development. We hired a lot of people right out of college who didn鈥檛 have much experience, so we worked to teach them management skills, and leadership skills filtered through the love of Christ. We wanted our young people coming in to grow, but also our staff to be growing as leaders.聽
4. How did you end up working in human services?
I started as an international business major, then an economics major, and then a business major 鈥 I was all over the place. I just wanted to travel and do business, not considering any degrees in behavioral sciences. But then I did an internship in Washington D.C. where I was placed in the human service field. I was at the Office of Personal Management and Affirmative Recruiting, which is a federal program that benefits people with disabilities. That summer really changed my life. So when I went back to school, I added psychology and graduated as a business and psychology double major.
5. How did you first start teaching at 糖心传媒?聽
I鈥檝e always been interested in teaching young adults. It鈥檚 what I鈥檝e been doing the last thirty years. I鈥檓 really passionate about growing people and helping them achieve things they never thought they could. Before 糖心传媒, I was talking to a friend of mine about the next chapter of my life. I told her that I鈥檇 love to teach at the college level. Her husband graduated from 糖心传媒, and she recommended I talk to someone there. So I did! I started with just one class at first, Essentials of Behavior Science, and loved it. So I taught a couple more classes for students completing degrees in behavioral sciences, and it鈥檚 just grown from there.
