NEW BEGINNINGS

With doing this she received her degree in Deaf Education and Elementary Education, Parrish spent the next 15-20 years of her life as a K-12 classroom teacher. Parrish really had a love for working with students and helping them to become the best they could be.

“ I was surrounded by teachers who sometimes, didn’t share that reason for being a teacher, I was getting a masters degree, my major professor and master's degree said you should get a PHD, I thought ‘no I shouldn’t,’ but as I worked with one colleague in particular, who I didn’t feel had the best interest of children in her heart. I realized if I went out and got a PHD and prepared teachers, I could have hopefully a positive impact on even more children,” said Parrish.

Parrish was determined to change the lives of so many, so she went on to get her Masters degree at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg and then her PHD at the University of South Florida in Tampa. After this bold move in her career she was able to secure a faculty position.

“Once I got into higher ed, that same idea of, ‘I impacted this circle of students,’ I was asked if I would do administrative tasks and I said, ‘No,’ but then I thought, ‘well if I do administrative tasks then maybe I could impact a bigger circle of students,’’’ said Parrish.

This brought her onto an administrative path, this is the path, that would allow Mrs. Parrish to make the impact she wanted to.

“I met Dr. Luckey, through accreditation work and when this position opened up, the opportunity to come be apart of his team was very appealing,” said Parrish.

This opportunity brought her husband, who has lived in Florida his entire life, and Mrs. Parrish, who lived in Florida for a good majority of her life, to Kentucky. They have only been in Kentucky since June, so they could start their new journey here at Lindsey Wilson and thew Academic Affairs department.

“Academic Affairs is everything in the institution academic. The faculty are all apart of academic affairs and I lead that division, anytime students have questions or problems with a course or they want to take more than 17 credit hours or they want to withdraw from a course or leave the college, all of those are opportunities for me to interact and to help them make good decisions,” said Parrish.

Mrs. Parrish spends most of her time with faculty and making sure they have what they need to be successful in teaching and executing their jobs the way they should be.

“We have a very good faculty governance structure, so our faculty are actively involved, so I mainly just facilitate them and their work,” said Parrish.

Mrs. Parrish does all of this while also learning how to grow in her position as Vice President of Academic Affairs and also learning the new environment she has been placed in. It truly is as if she is a freshman here at Lindsey Wilson and in the town of Columbia.

“It’s definitely a big change in both my work life and home life, I lived in Florida, I was not very far from my family and now, my husband and I `are in Kentucky and we both are very far from our families. But, we love it, we love Columbia, the people are friendly and welcoming, we don’t regret the decision to be here in anyway but it certainly is a change.”

“As far as this position, I was Associate Vice President before and moving into the Vice President’s role is a growth opportunity, there has been a real steep learning curve. Learning Lindsey Wilson College, making the jump from the seat to the right hand of the leader to becoming the leader,” said Parrish

Through all the change Parrish says she feels very blessed.

“The faculty have been fabulous, the students here are special, everyone is caring and friendly. It makes ALL the difference,” said Parrish.

Big moves and even bigger life changes, left Mrs. Parrish and her Husband with no Winter clothes, but after a nice big shopping spree, she left us with these wise words…

“It’s an exciting opportunity, without risk you don’t get the challenges or the success.”