Story: Phillip Tutor | Photo: Betsy Compton
Assistant professor of marketing also directs DBA in rural business online program
As silly as it may seem, the reason Dr. Veronica Triplett is an institution at the can be traced to a long-forgotten item tucked inside a storage space in her family鈥檚 new home.
It鈥檚 her clarinet.
That is, after all, why she initially made the two-hour drive to Livingston from her childhood home of Monroeville. Recruited as a teenaged clarinetist for the聽UWA Marching Tigers band, Triplett graduated with her bachelor鈥檚 degree in 2007 — and hasn鈥檛 left.聽
Today, Triplett is an assistant professor of marketing and management in UWA鈥檚聽College of Business and Technology. Last December, she received the 2022 Nellie Rose McCrory Award that honors a faculty member for service to the university and the surrounding region. She also directs one of the university鈥檚 newest academic additions, the聽.
Since arriving in Livingston in 2003, Triplett has earned three UWA degrees — a bachelor鈥檚 and two master鈥檚 — and either worked in or directed a queen鈥檚 collection of business-related departments. It鈥檚 as if the campus and the professor are indissoluble.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to be honest with you. When I was leading up to graduation, I thought I’d end up back in Monroeville in my hometown,鈥� she said. 鈥淚’ve never had a vision to be in a big city. I’ve never had a vision to get away. It’s one of those things where you go off, you get educated, you come back and you pour into the community that raised you.
鈥淏ut I found an opportunity to stay here, and I think it worked out for my good. I don’t know of any other place I could have ever gone.鈥�
A career of opportunities at UWA
Here鈥檚 another example of how intertwined Triplett鈥檚 life story is with UWA, as well as a testament to undergraduate networking. She graduated on a Saturday in 2007 with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in business administration; the following Monday, she started as a counselor in the university鈥檚 Small Business Development Center, where she鈥檇 been a work-study student as a senior. Her first job search was embarrassingly simple.
Other opportunities limited Triplett鈥檚 initial UWA role but kept her in Livingston. Though teaching had held her childhood interest, she rose in leadership positions with the university鈥檚 Community and Economic Impact Grants Program, Certified Nursing Assistant Program, Applied Manufacturing Technology Program, Summer Transportation Institute and Center for Business and Entrepreneurial Services.
She earned her first master鈥檚, in counseling psychology, in 2009, but one wasn鈥檛 enough. She earned her second, in business administration, in 2016. Her fourth degree — a Ph.D. in business administration and marketing — is her only non-UWA honor. It came from Liberty University in 2020.
鈥淭o me, rural students often have fewer educational opportunities than their peers in metro areas,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have the opportunity in teaching rural students, even at the collegiate level, to not only work with the students, but work with their families to improve the outcome they’re going to have. That’s important to me.
— Dr. Veronica Triplett
The result of this constant jumble of role changes and academic achievements is a job Triplett adores. It allows her to teach in the and direct an embryonic doctorate program that鈥檚 engendering lofty expectations within the College of Business and Technology.
鈥淚 think the primary reason this program was started was because there are so many times we sit in meetings — strategic planning meetings, community meetings, city government meetings — and there’s somebody from the outside telling these people in rural communities what they should be doing,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e realized really quickly we’re not developing enough rural leaders. We’re not developing enough individuals invested in leadership, or investing in entrepreneurship in rural communities specifically. So the ultimate goal is how do we create rural business consultants to help inform these decisions that are made in rural communities?鈥�
Never far from Triplett鈥檚 thoughts, though, are UWA鈥檚 core students, she says, many of whom hail from rural regions in baby直播 and Mississippi similar to the university鈥檚 Sumter County home.
鈥淭o me, rural students often have fewer educational opportunities than their peers in metro areas,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have the opportunity in teaching rural students, even at the collegiate level, to not only work with the students, but work with their families to improve the outcome they’re going to have. That’s important to me.
鈥淭hese students have unique problems related to their academic performance, whether it be resources, whether it be literacy, any of those types of things. We have a large population of minority students here that may have special needs or accommodation 鈥� It’s one of those things where we have the opportunity to have a greater impact because our learners are in such a small environment in class size.鈥�
A trendsetter in higher education in baby直播
Triplett鈥檚 normal cadence — rapid, staccato, friendly — slows to a thoughtful stroll when she鈥檚 asked about being an African-American woman in a prominent university position.
After all, Monroeville, her childhood home, is forever linked to 鈥淭o Kill a Mockingbird,鈥� Harper Lee鈥檚 transcendental novel that explored issues of race, jurisprudence, equality and humanity in the small-town South of the mid-20th century. Triplett realizes 鈥渢hat I represent a minority in a lot of instances,鈥� in race and gender, and that America鈥檚 slog toward workplace equality has historically hindered women and people of color. Only in 2020 did the United States elect its first African-American woman as vice president, Kamala Harris.
鈥淚 don’t take it for granted one day,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here’s not a day that I take for granted the opportunities that I’ve been given. I don’t take it lightly. I use it as an opportunity to really show that you can be where you want to be.鈥�
The clarinet that ushered Triplett to Livingston isn鈥檛 as fortunate. She hasn鈥檛 played it since 2007, back in her final days with the UWA marching band. Given the hectic arc of her career, though, the former clarinetist hasn鈥檛 had much time to spare.
鈥淚 actually love the band,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 love music. I still love music.鈥�