12 People You Need to Know in 2016: Sue Head

Sue Head spends her life serving others and is surprised when she’s honored for it.

When the nomination packet for the 2015 Missourian Award arrived, Head thought it was misaddressed. When she received the Don Gabriel Kingdom Builder Award at the 2013 Ozark Mountain Prayer Breakfast, she was shocked.

Head doesn’t serve for accolades. It’s part of her DNA.

“I grew up in a house where my mother volunteered,” says Head, vice president for cultural affairs and dean of character education at College of the Ozarks. “I grew up in a church and a faith that served the poor.”

She remembers the Christmas morning when her family delivered Meals on Wheels on her mother’s route before opening gifts. “They weren’t just saying be kind to those who are struggling,” Head says of her parents. “They were doing that.”

She arrived in Point Lookout in 1999 when her husband, Hayden, joined C of O’s faculty. Head came on in 2004 as the executive director of The Keeter Center for Character Education. A few months later, college President Jerry Davis told Head it was time to get her advanced degrees – goals that weren’t on her list. “I’m positive the colors drained out of my face,” Head says.

She stayed local for her master’s at Evangel University but chose the University of Pennsylvania for her doctorate, which required flying to Philadelphia once a month for two years.

“It was a nutty, nutty time in my life,” says Head, the mother of two. “I have no idea how that whole season of my life occurred. I’m just grateful for a wonderful place to work and a supportive family.”

Head became the vice president for cultural affairs in June. She’s in charge of Keeter, student life, public and alumni relations, and development. She also was instrumental in opening C of O’s college-prep program, School of the Ozarks.

Head spearheaded First PLACE! – Parents Linking Arms for Character Education – a two-county character education initiative for schools, which exposed her to the extent of poverty and the realization that it’s tough to emphasize higher ideals if basic needs aren’t met.

“If these children are worried about eating or getting beaten, we need to take a step back and look at this,” she says. “We have a lot of generational and situational poverty in this area.”

Head developed the S. Truett Cathy Poverty Summit to give the community tools for helping people in need.

“It’s a passion of mine,” Head says. “The poor will always be with us, as Mother Teresa said, but it’s how we help.”