Ozarks Profile

Director of human resources, Drury College, 900 N. Benton. Founded in 1873, Drury College is the second-largest higher learning institution in the Springfield area with 3,608 full-time students reported in fall 1998. Pruett has been employed with Drury since she began as a payroll clerk in 1982, and she is now responsible for the personnel functions of 300 full-time faculty and staff members. Pruett is vice president of the Ozarks Area Business Group on Health, a member of the Missouri College and University Personnel Association, the Human Resources Association of Southwest Missouri, the Ozarks National Council for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Leadership Springfield Alumni Association, the Junior League of Springfield and is a past board member of United Way of the Ozarks.

Age: 44

No. of years in Springfield/area: Lifelong resident.

Education: Pruett has an associate of science in accounting, a bachelor of science in business administration and is currently working on a master's in business administration, all from Drury.

Early career: Pruett's first job was as a secretary at Southgate Gardens Inc. in 1973. She performed accounting and bookkeeping duties, as well as sales and florist duties. In 1976, while still employed with Southgate Gardens, Pruett began working at Hogan Land Title as an abstractor, posting and drawing plats of land for Greene, Jasper and Newton counties. She began her career at Drury as a payroll clerk in 1982.

Current projects: Pruett is working on the Student Success Initiative, a program at Drury aimed at educating all Drury staff on how to better assist students with achieving their academic goals. She is also working on improving the health insurance package Drury offers its employees.

Management philosophy: "My philosophy is a participative one. I like to involve people in decision-making, especially students. I recently sent out an e-mail to all Drury staff asking for help with the Student Success Initiative, and got a pretty good response."

Spare-time pursuits: Gardening, reading and traveling. Her last trip was to Santa Fe, N.M.

Family data: She and her husband Michael, a CPA, have four children: Myki, whose husband is a washboard player in the local bluegrass band Big Smith[[In-content Ad]]