Leo Casalini
Contributing Writer
This past Wednesday, Oct. 22, The College of Wooster welcomed Heidi Gartland ’85 as the newest speaker in the James R. Wilson Lecture series hosted by the department of economics. Gartland, a graduate of the College, has held various high-ranking positions in the field of health policy and served on various regional and national boards. She serves as the chief government and community relations officer for University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio.
Gartland began the lecture by introducing herself and her family before prefacing her talk with a story from her time as an undergraduate. Having switched her major from chemistry to South Asian studies at the beginning of her senior year, Gartland was completely at a loss for what she wanted to do with her life. It was only through her study abroad in Kolkata, India, and a chance encounter with a local nun that she found her calling — to help women and children — a calling on which she would focus in her career after Wooster.
When she returned to Wooster, she was still on shaky ground. But she was able to rebuild her confidence through working on and turning in her I.S., “The Theory and Practice of Nonviolence: A Comparison of Eastern and Western Approaches.”
“It wasn’t so much the research project [as] it was the fact that I could prove to myself I could get through something that was just daunting,” Gartland said. “And I could think about it, I could learn something, and I could actually do something that I never thought I could do before.”
Gartland went on to discuss her path from undergrad to her master’s program at Ohio State University and into the early stage of her career, which she dubbed ‘the survival stage.’ Navigating personal and professional life as a career-oriented person was challenging for Gartland, and she shared that one of her bosses didn’t make her job any easier.
Extending solidarity to the students in the room, Gartland shared that “you will have that moment where your mind just sort of bends, you have a difficult moment, and you find that path for yourself to be able to work on the area that you have a passion [for]. So you’ve got all the stuff going on in your head, passion and the heart that have to all come together when you come up with the career you’re going to be doing.”
Moving from her ‘survival stage’ into her ‘success stage,’ as she described it, she began to find her footing and pursue her aspirations of helping women and children. Through her position as the health policy director at the Ohio Hospital Association, she advocated for a policy change allowing children’s hospitals to receive discounted drug prices, which until then had only been available to hospitals serving adults.
Gartland wrapped up the talk with her ‘success stage’ and what she does now, giving an overview of the boards she has served in the past and the present. She added, “The College of Wooster’s liberal arts education was certainly the foundation of my career. It has been really grounding for me to live a life that has been extremely fulfilling.”
