{"product_id":"accidental-activist-9781604893816","title":"Accidental Activist","description":"\u003cp\u003eMary Allen Jolley served as legislative assistant to Congressman Carl Elliott, D-AL, helping draft the National Defense Education Act of 1958. She later\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eaccepted an appointment by President Kennedy to staff the advisory panel on vocational education in the USA and help draft the Vocational Education Act of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1964. Both legislations opened higher education to people regardless of financial means, and helped bring women and minorities into the educational mainstream.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWorking in governmental affairs for the American Vocational Association, she helped bring other organizations to jointly and effectively appeal to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCongress for increased funding for education. These acts impacted higher education as much as the post-war G. I. Bill did.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeaving Washington, Jolley first served as vice president for development at Trident Community College in Charleston, South Carolina, where among other\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003esuccesses, she established a program to increase the enrollment of women in technical programs leading to higher-paid careers. She was recruited home to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe University of Alabama, where she served as director of economic development, and helped devise strategies to recruit major industry (JVC, Mercedes)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eto Alabama, at the same time working with communities throughout the state on local projects, and fostering the development of Family Resource Centers as\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ea concrete step toward ending intergenerational poverty. A person of boundless energy and absolute integrity, Mary Allen Jolley\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003econtinued to help people make better lives through almost 30 years of retirement. In all she did, Jolley was an advocate for social justice, and in her last\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyears she worked with others in Tuscaloosa toward an acknowledgment of its history, striving for racial reconciliation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs beloved in her personal life as she was respected in her career, Mary's joyous engagement in living has influenced generations of her family, friends, \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eand co-workers to embrace her example and work to make the world a better place for everyone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Livingston Press at the University of West Al","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50725241782546,"sku":"9781604893816","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_0d19885f-498f-42a5-a573-68f619802334.jpg?v=1734822175","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/accidental-activist-9781604893816","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}