Posted: 6/27/07
Commissioner Reinhardt says Century put her on the path to earning her doctorate
 Victoria Reinhardt |
Nothing in Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt's background pointed to her eventually earning a doctorate in public administration.
When she was in high school, a counselor advised her to stick with traditional female career goals. Reinhardt's shyness and her humble beginnings did not portend great things for her future. The subject of college never even came up.
But Reinhardt, who represents White Bear Lake, Maplewood and North St. Paul on the Ramsey County Board, figured there was more out there for her. Even when she was a struggling single mom with rock-bottom self-esteem, she had a gut feeling that she could achieve more.
Education made the difference. Though things looked bleak for her in the mid-1980s, Reinhardt enrolled in Century College (the former Lakewood Community College) and earned her Associate in Arts degree. She then went on to earn her bachelor's degree followed by her master's degree in Business Administration from Metropolitan State University. This spring, she earned her doctorate in Public Administration from Hamline University.
"Century College opened the door for me and gave me hope," said Reinhardt. "The intellectual growth I experienced there gave me a glimpse of a future that I never imagined could be mine."
Born in Hastings in 1953, Reinhardt grew up with two older brothers and a younger sister. Her dad drove a cab in Hastings and her mom baked pies and occasionally some cakes for local restaurants. Reinhardt remembers her mother asking her to bake and decorate a birthday cake for one of the restaurant owners. She was 12 and the cake was in the shape of a rocking horse. "I wanted to be a commercial artist," she said, "but my medium ended up being frosting."
While her parents worked hard to make ends meet, Reinhardt said she did not see many options in planning for her future. "There was never a discussion about going to college," she said. "The assumption was that I would get married, have children and that would be it."
Graduating from Hastings High School in 1971, Reinhardt was a member of the National Honor Society and in the top 10 percent of her class. She was also one of the shyest people you would ever meet. "I have had former classmates come up to me and ask, ‘How did that shy girl in high school turn out to be you?'" Reinhardt said. "Actually, the shy girl never went away, but I feel so passionately about what I am doing, I have overcome it."
Reinhardt was married at 18, had her first child at 19, and her second son five years later. All was not well with her marriage, and her self-esteem plummeted. It became very difficult for her to see her way out of a bad situation. Finally, she was referred her to the Wilder Domestic Abuse program through Ramsey County. A counselor advised her that she needed to acquire the tools to care for herself and her children so that they would not only survive, but thrive.
"I hadn't thought of it that way before," said Reinhardt. Knowing her children's future was at stake, she found the strength to leave the marriage and build a new life. She turned to Century College and took her first college class in the mid-1980s. "I was working two jobs and I remember when I told my sons I was going to go to college, my older son asked, ‘What - are you going to give up sleeping?' I told him that if that is what it took, yes, I would give up sleeping."
Reinhardt said a former counselor at Century was the first person to give her the kind of support and hope she needed to embark on her higher education journey. Because she had become involved as a volunteer in local politics, the counselor suggested that public elected life might be for her. "At the time, I thought it was funny," said Reinhardt. "But it turned out to be right on."
Reinhardt earned her Associate in Arts degree in the late 1980s. She married J.P. Barone, a Minnesota Assistant Attorney General, in 1991. She won her seat on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners in 1996, defeating a 22-year incumbent. She has served on the county board since that time.
"I worked very hard to be elected, so that I could work even harder serving in office," said Reinhardt. "Typically, I work 50 to 60 hours a week as a commissioner, and, when I was working on my doctorate, I spent every spare minute I had in the evening or on weekends studying. I rarely went to bed before 2 a.m. and I recall being surprised, on more than one occasion, when I realized the sun had come up while I was busy working on my dissertation. I remember thinking back to my son's comment about giving up sleep - indeed, I had done just that."
Reinhardt said her struggles have made her a better elected official. She has fought for public assets such as libraries, the nursing home, courts, and human service programs that help people help themselves. Reinhardt has taken on leadership roles on a variety of issues at the county, state and national levels. A colleague on the County Board once commented that the thing he admired most about Reinhardt was that she never, ever gives up. "If I had to use one word to describe what I do it would be ‘fight,' said Reinhardt. "It's not a negative word because I fight to make good things happen and I fight to stop bad things from happening. My work is about advocacy - about making a positive difference."
Reinhardt's doctoral dissertation reflects her deep interest in getting the best value for the taxpayer dollar. She wrote about how millions of dollars of taxpayer costs can be avoided by preventing people from becoming criminals in the first place by instituting prevention programs with proven results. A copy of the dissertation can be found on Reinhardt's page on the Ramsey County Web site at www.co.ramsey.mn.us.
"Everyone has a story, and everyone has ups and downs in their life," said Reinhardt. "The point is, what do you do with the lessons you learn? For me, education has always been the cornerstone. It is the primary way to get started on reaching your goals."
Submtted by Century College
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