Alumni Profile
Lena Voncille Burrell Prewitt
MS'55, PhD'61
Professor emerita, University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
"Students who benefit the most from the very rich resources at IU are the ones who are first and
foremost committed to their studies and are open and willing to learn from the glimpses of culture
from around the world."
Lena Voncille Burrell Prewitt
Lena Prewitt admits to being "much less experienced than the average student" when she came to IU in 1955. But that lack of exposure would soon end. Though she originally came to the university for an M.S. in business education, she was given full funding to stay for a doctorate. While her studies honed her intellect, Prewitt says she also received a valuable education simply by being exposed to many different cultures on IU's Bloomington campus.
"Students who benefit the most from the very rich resources at IU are the ones who are first and foremost committed to their studies and are open and willing to learn from the glimpses of culture from around the world," says Prewitt.
After completing her degrees, Prewitt did postdoctoral work at Harvard and UCLA. While raising her two younger brothers and putting them through college, she began her career as a faculty member at Texas Southern in 1966.
She quickly rose through the ranks of academe, becoming the first female African American faculty member at the University of Alabama, where she has been a professor of management and marketing in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration. Prewitt, who is currently a professor emerita, has enjoyed a career that is double-edged, balancing her scholarship with extensive consulting work.
Prewitt's consulting career, in which she focuses on industrial operations, led to work with NASA, where she worked on early rocket projects at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. She has also consulted for the U.S. State Department for more than 20 years, and has traveled to more than 42 countries. Prewitt has achieved much, but retains a remarkable sense of curiosity and desire to learn.
What would Prewitt do if she could do anything she wanted? "I would give comfort and assistance to children in crises around the world. I would also be a modern physicist to explore, understand, and teach the structure and functioning of the universe and to relate the findings to such disciplines as philosophy, theology, and archaeology."
Prewitt sees herself as a person who loves "the view from the peripheral." She currently works with 25 Ph.D. students located around the world in a management Ph.D. program via distance education through Union Institute and University.
The IU Alumni Association is important to her because it represents "fellowship, memories, and the opportunity to give back to the university which has given so much to me," Prewitt says. She believes "the educational, social, and psychological developments" she underwent at IU continue to help her be truly "at home" with herself.