Earth Day 2011
NSBE Goes to Washington
An Interview with Lisa P. Jackson, Head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Photography by Eric Vance, USEPA
(left to right) Darius Simington, Devante Martin, Administrator Jackson, Alexis Clark and Alicia Tate
Lisa Perez Jackson is administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, also known as the EPA. The job of this federal government organization is “to protect human health and the environment.” Administrator Jackson is the first black person to head the EPA.
Administrator Jackson is a chemical engineer. She is also a former officer of the National Society of Black Engineers. When she was an undergraduate, she was vice president then president of the NSBE chapter at Tulane University, an historically black school in her hometown of New Orleans. After graduating from Tulane at the top of her class, she went to Princeton University, where she got her master’s degree in chemical engineering. Now, as head of the EPA, she is one of President Obama’s “Cabinet-level officers,” the highest appointed officials of the federal government’s executive branch. Her job is very important, to say the least: two of President Obama’s top priorities — making the U.S. energy independent and fighting climate change — are in the arena of the EPA.
This past March, Administrator Jackson invited four NSBE Jr. members to interview her in her office at EPA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.: Alexis Clark, a sophomore at North Stafford High School in Stafford, Va.; Alicia Tate, a third grader at Stonegate Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md.; and Devante Martin and Darius Simington, both 10th graders at Martinsville High School in Martinsville, Va. These four outstanding students had the opportunity to discuss environmental problems and solutions and get some career advice for budding engineers.
During the interview, Administrator Jackson described herself as “an engineer who was going to be a doctor.” She is also a wife, a mother of two sons and a soon-to-be lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers!
Excerpts of our interview with Administrator Jackson follow.
Alicia: Did you enjoy being a NSBE officer in college, and did it help you in your career?
Jackson: Yes, I did. I really enjoyed being the VP and the president for different reasons. When I was VP, I had a good friend who was the (chapter) president…and he was really quite a leader. So I learned a lot of leadership qualities from him. And we did lots of fun things: We did books with all of our resumes in it to help us find jobs…. And we did conferences. We went up to the big NSBE (Annual Convention). It was in Boston at Tufts University. It was really the first time I had ever traveled away from home that long a distance. So I learned a lot from NSBE. And I think being an officer is a great way to learn leadership skills.
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