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Career
Profiles - Kimberly Skarupski
- Describe your field.
I am the Associate Director of Penn
State Erie's Center for Organizational
Research & Evaluation (CORE) and
an Assistant Professor in the Psychology
Department. In my job, I help local
community agencies evaluate how they're
doing, analyze what they're doing, assist
them in writing proposals to get funding
to support their efforts, conduct research
for them, and provide methodological,
statistical, and technical expertise.
CORE's primary aim is teenage pregnancy
prevention, so we work very closely
with ECNAPP - the Erie County Network
for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.
ECNAPP serves as an umbrella organization,
helping to coordinate the efforts of
approximately 37 teen pregnancy prevention
providers in the Erie area. I am also
a gerontologist (the study of aging)
by training and am interested in studying
older African Americans and how they
think about and use long-term care.
- How did you become interested
in this field?
I became interested in research and
evaluation when I was a senior in college.
I attended Gannon University and was
asked to analyze the data for the Senior
Exit Surveys. I really enjoyed the process
of doing literature reviews, developing
the questionnaire, collecting the data,
analyzing it, and then reporting the
findings. In graduate school, I enjoyed
my methods and statistics courses where
I learned the science of data analysis.
I have also always enjoyed writing and
never had any trouble doing my research
papers in school. As a child, I spent
a lot of time with older people (family
members, visits to the nursing home,
visits to the convent) and I think that's
why I love working with and studying
older people now.
- What education did you have to
obtain?
I earned my bachelor's degree (B.A.)
from Gannon University in sociology.
I put myself through college while living
with my mom. My senior year at Gannon,
I had 7 jobs - but I also graduated
having never taken out a loan! It was
a tremendous feeling of satisfaction
that I was able to support myself through
college and be on the dean's list at
the same time! After graduation, I went
on to earn my Master's Degree (M.A.)
from the State University of New York
at Buffalo in sociology where I specialized
in Marriage and the Family. While at
U.B., I owned my own company (renovating
subway cars for General Electric) and
also worked full-time and part-time
as a research assistant. After that,
I moved back to Erie to be an administrator
at a social service agency. Within two
years, I was back in school at Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland
where I earned my doctoral degree (Ph.D.)
in sociology - specializing in gerontology
(the study of aging) and medical sociology.
I also completed approximately 2 years
as a post-doctoral research fellow at
the University of Michigan's School
of Public Health and Institute of Gerontology.
I'm currently taking classes at the
University of Pittsburgh working on
my M.P.H. degree (Masters in Public
Health) - specializing in gerontology
and biostatistics.
- What were your favorite subjects?
In grade school, I loved reading, English,
and math. In high school, I loved reading,
research, art, and Latin. In college
and graduate school, I enjoyed methods,
statistics, gerontology, and sociology.
- What is your every-day life like?
I start my day checking and replying
to all my emails. Then it's a mix between
preparing for the class I teach, grading
papers, teaching the class, meeting
with students, attending meetings with
our agency "clients," conducting
evaluations, planning evaluations, developing
budgets and timelines, analyzing data,
writing papers and reports, drafting
grant applications, surfing the web
for information, reading articles, reports,
and books, supervising student research
assistants, communicating with coworkers,
and strategizing the future of CORE!
- How do you balance a family and
career?
It's very difficult to balance home
life and work life. It's never really
balanced day-in and day-out. Some days
I work 12 hours a day, rush home, eat
a bowl of cereal, walk my dog, chit-chat
with my husband and go to bed. Other
days, I get home at a normal time, fix
dinner, visit with my husband, go play
volleyball, watch t.v., read a magazine,
and relax. In my job, I have to be flexible
and willing to do what it takes to get
the job done. I can't even imagine doing
this kind of work and having kids too!
- What is the coolest thing about
your career?
It's flexible - I have the freedom to
investigate issues in which I'm interested.
I get to work with terrific students.
I also have the luxury of working with
people in the "real world"
and helping them solve problems.
- Anything you would like to add?
Don't panic if you don't know what you
want to do or be when you grow up -
most adults still don't know. Give 100%
in everything you do - this is the true
test of one's character. Challenge yourself
- take a class that you know is going
to be hard. Develop relationships with
your teachers and professors - you're
oftentimes our greatest success stories!
Travel to other countries when you get
the opportunity. Investigate different
kinds of careers. Talk to everyone you
can and learn from them. It's a long
road, take your time and enjoy it!
For more information about C.O.R.E.
Center for Organizational Research &
Evaluation (CORE)
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Academic Building (170)
Station Road
Erie, PA 16563-1501
(814) 898-6338
(814) 898-6270 (fax)
www.pserie.psu.edu/hss/core.htm
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