Category: Reflections

Reflections are  all about the mosaic of experiences that Katherine is piecing together for her book on inclusiveness in international politics, much like a patchwork quilt of scattered images that are linked together to portray a common theme. This preliminary phase offers a glimpse into the collection of lessons learned  from the strikingly diverse segments of Katherine’s professional career. They are five separate segments, with links to each one as noted, but they also appear in this Reflections page as a sequence of five reverse chronological posts.

Elective Politics and Long-Lasting People Networks

The Reach of the White House Fellowships

The Role of Public Policy in the Corporate World

International Organizations Delivering Norms, Information and Capacity

Learning about Entrepreneurship and Civil Society Activism

 

Katherine was elected for three terms in the North Carolina Senate as a member of the delegation representing Guilford County, including the Cities of High Point and Greensboro. She was the first woman to be elected to the State Senate from this district. She was in the forefront of bringing the women’s movement into the mainstream in American politics. Her success in the NC Senate also showed the importance of teamwork and community outreach.  Continue reading “Elective Politics and Long-Lasting People Networks”

The White House Fellowship has been operating as a one-year program at the highest levels of the executive branch since the 1960s. It is intended for individuals at mid-career to provide first-hand experiences on how American federal governance works in order to integrate a better understanding of the role of government into their continuing career development outside government. Candidates are selected on a non-partisan basis using three criteria – academic achievements, career successes and civic service impact. Katherine was invited to serve as a White House Fellow in 1979 and worked in the Carter Administration as a Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Personnel Management. Others in her class worked with other agency heads or key White House offices. Continue reading “The Reach of the White House Fellowships”

Katherine’s involvement with international organizations dates back to her  teaching and research on the United Nations system as a college professor, fresh out of graduate school.  Her career path took a domestic turn as she played a leading role in her community on women’s rights and in elective politics, but she returned to her interest in international organizations when she was invited to join the International Labor Organization (ILO) as Deputy Director-General.  

Continue reading “International Organizations Delivering Norms, Information and Capacity”

The mosaic of learning experiences in elective politics, teaching, public service, business and international organizations enabled Katherine to collaborate with clients and colleagues on inclusive dialogue and a search for common ground on global social issues. This phase of her career brought her back into building coalitions and partnerships that drew on her experience in elective politics, but it also depended on applying the expertise she had acquired along the way. And both her business initiative and her NGO initiative depended on a special collaboration with her partner Ralph McShane Doggett. Continue reading “Entrepreneurship and Civil Society Activism to Promote Inclusiveness”