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June 2010
Dr. Bette Stead
Gamma Phi, Lamar UniversityAfter completing an MBA from The University of Texas and an Ed. D. from the University of Houston, Bette joined the faculty of the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston where she taught for 34 years and retired as professor emerita.
Bette is a published author, has endowed several scholarships and has been involved in multiple capital campaigns. Workplace ethics are also a passion for Dr. Stead; she founded the Greater Houston Business Ethics Roundtable.
Bette has received numerous awards from Universities and community organizations, including the 2010 Mayor’s Volunteer Houston Award for her work with The Women’s Home, a rehabilitation program for homeless and at risk Houston-area women. A Women’s Home volunteer for over 18 years, Bette brought the love and support she received from her grandmother and aunt to those women in need in her community.
Why she’s real:
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My love for my family and friends. After having no family at all since 1982, I married for the first time on April 15 at age 74. He and his family are truly wonderful to me. This is a very happy time.
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Why she’s strong:
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Give me a job to do, and I will stick with it until it's done and done in a timely fashion.
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Not on her resume:
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I am a survivor. I have been in four airplanes that were on fire, two armed robberies, a mugging and a high-rise fire. When I went to China in 1989, Tiananmen Square happened, and I witnessed demonstrations in four cites. A helicopter crashed outside my building clipping the building antennae.
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Childhood ambition:
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I wanted to work in business. However, even though I got a BBA and an MBA, I couldn't get a job in those days. That led to my Women in Management book (Prentice-Hall), which I got to see in the main reading room of the Library of Congress.
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Proudest of:
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My aunt and grandmother reared me from birth. My grandmother who was a special treasure died when I was 12. So my aunt and I were a family for my first 47 years. She was housebound her last four years. I was her only caregiver. Her courage, integrity, kindness, dearness, sense of humor, and commonsense were the basis for our most happy and interesting life. She left me a love of my church, a good education, and appreciation for reading, art, music, travel, nature, and county; a sense of home and family.
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Favorite book:
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Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas by Gregg Cantrell
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Favorite movie:
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The Rookie
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