Q&A: Laura Wilder
Laura Wilder, department assistant in Finance Operations, is one of the women featured as part of The Signal’s #HawkHerStory coverage, celebrating Women’s History Month. This special coverage focuses on the stories and perspectives of the various women within the UHCL community.
Read The Signal’s Q&A with Wilder below and see the other Q&As conducted with students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni here.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself, on both a personal and professional/educational level?
A: My most important job up to this point has been wife and mother. Our family made the choice for me to be a stay at home mom, a decision we never regretted. During that time, I became a La Leche League (LLL) Leader (breastfeeding support group) and volunteered with LLL for almost 30 years. We also decided to homeschool our five children and I volunteered in many different capacities during those years.
While our kids were in college, I attained an Associates degree from San Jacinto College. I substituted with the Clear Creek ISD for a year and then found my way here, to UHCL. I started out in the Travel Office the same semester we began accepting freshmen. After six months, I transferred to my current position as Department Assistant in the AVP of Finance office supporting all of the Finance departments: Accounts Payable & Travel, General Accounting, Procurement & Contracts, General Support Services and Student Business Services.
Q: What are some activities you enjoy doing?
A: I like to read, crochet, watch RomComs, garden, play cards, board games and put puzzles together, oh, and I love long walks on the beach at sunset, but most of all, I enjoy visiting with my kids and grandkids.
Q: Who are some women (real or fictional) you look up to most? Why?
A: Laura Ingalls Wilder (no relation) because she worked along side her husband on their homestead, wrote her famous “Little House” books in her 50’s and did whatever needed to be done to make ends meet.
Jane Austen because she wrote about strong women, a topic she knew well at a time when it was rare for a woman to be an author.
Q: What are some problems you anticipate/have encountered as a woman in your field?
A: I had applied for several positions here at UHCL over a seven-year period while my youngest kids were in high school and then in college and it wasn’t until I had an associate’s degree that I was even called for an interview even though the positions I applied for did not require anything more than a high school degree. I’m sure it was because there were always plenty of other applicants that looked better on paper than I did, but the only thing that changed on my application in all those years was that added degree. It made the difference in getting an interview, getting that chance to make an impression in person.
Q: What advice would you give to other women and young girls?
A: Seize the opportunities that come your way and if they aren’t coming your way, go out and find them.
Q: Is there anything you would like our readers to know?
A: I love my job here at UHCL, but being a mom has still been the best job I’ve ever had and being a grandmother is the icing on the cake.
