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������ý alumna Janna Connor always dreamed big. Earning a bachelor’s degree was a given. Her preferred trajectory? Complete a master’s degree program on her way to a PhD. But some unexpected life events — losing both her parents while young and divorcing early on in motherhood — put all those dreams on the back burner.��

Connor grew up in Iowa, the third of four children. Her father served in Korea with the Army and then became a first-generation college graduate, setting a new precedent for his children.

“It was in our lexicon,” Connor says of college. “It was one of those things that we just talked about. ‘That’s what you do in your life.’”

Connor had no example, however, for how to cope with the early loss of her parents. Her mother died of heart failure when Connor was 12 years old, and her father was hit by a drunk driver one month before she graduated high school. Still, Connor embraced their expectations and followed in her family’s footsteps. She attended the same Lutheran college in Iowa that her mother and sister had. After gaining an associate degree there, she planned to enroll at the same state university her father and brother had attended, but she ultimately decided to head to Texas to be near her older sister.

The next step in her college career was what Connor calls “a bit willy-nilly.” Unsure what she wanted to study, she thought interior design might be fun. Her friends affirmed her choice, so she transferred to a local university where she earned a bachelor’s degree in interior design.��

Unfortunately, Connor’s graduation coincided with an economic recession. She was grateful to be one of just two from her class who secured a job in interior design, and she’s stayed in the field one way or another for more than 30 years.

Connor started in a traditional role as an associate designer. Gradually, she grew into different functions of design, including construction management.  

Through one of the architectural firms where she worked, she became acquainted with a major health insurance company. She was encouraged to apply for a role at that company that focused on space planning. Connor did, and she got the job. The career pivot leveraged all of her transferable skills, she says. Her work in architecture, construction, design and project management made her a great if unexpected fit.

She excelled in the role for the next eight years. Then, she began designing and helping staff the company’s 1-million-square-foot data center. Once complete, a former construction colleague alerted her to a job opening in the data center.

The new role was manager of critical facilities. It offered a salary increase and allowed Connor to leverage her project management expertise in a fresh environment. The change turned out to be a good fit: Connor accepted the job in 2011 and is still there today.��

“The transition from design to data center was weird and crazy,” she says. “I would never have been able to plan … that that’s how this skip to the data center would have happened.”

Her current manager, Forrest Hoffman, couldn’t be more grateful Connor made the switch.

“From the first interaction, it was clear Janna was unique to the typical large corporation mentality,” says Hoffman. “With her background in interior design she speaks our ‘language.’ She has carried over that mentality and established a reputation amongst all parties that if a project needs to be executed on time and on budget, Janna and her team is who you want leading the project.”

In the thick of it all, Connor raised her two boys as a single mother. This was not something she’d planned. “Single motherhood was a complete shock,” she says. “I was with my husband for 16 years (we met in college), but after the birth of our second son, he left us.”

Single motherhood brought challenges, but Connor is just as quick to point out the joys. “I got blessed with just wonderful kids,” says Connor. “They’ve been healthy. They’ve been really smart kids. They’re loving. I just adore my children.”

Her boys were involved in extracurricular activities including karate, baseball, football and band. Connor supported them through each while encouraging them to plan ahead.  

“I was preaching to them, ‘There are options out there. We need trades, electricians, plumbers. We need all of those. The military is awesome and then obviously college.’”

Both boys ultimately decided on college. When her youngest was in his senior year of high school, Connor likewise decided to go back to school for her master’s degree.

“You think in your head, ‘If I start it here, this will be the perfect timing. Both kids are in college. No, it wasn’t like that at all. It was the craziest year, his senior year. Probably not the best time to start, but I’m glad I did,” says Connor.

A co-worker told her about their company’s tuition reimbursement program with ������ý. He couldn’t say enough good things about his experience and the 6-week class structure. When Connor realized she could take up to five classes per year, she was convinced.  

Of course, acclimating took some time. Connor is a self-described Type A personality, and learning how to go back to school, while managing her job and family, didn’t happen all at once.

“The first class was probably the hardest,” she says. It required her to figure out the schedule and fast. After Connor established that weekly schedule, she found her groove. “I just kind of merged myself into a schedule that worked around all of my life.” 

Looking back, Connor acknowledges the decision to pursue a master’s degree in management made sense. She’d worked in management for years, after all. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t that be good to lean into that a little bit more and just sort of build on what I’ve already created in my professional world?’”

Connor did just that, and found the coursework provided the insights and terminology she had been missing. “I learned the nuances of [my field],” she says.

She also learned — and set an example for — good study habits that her sons picked up. Connor recalls: “My sister [said], ‘I’m really proud of you because you’re showing [your boys] how it needs to be done. You know exactly what you have to do each night. You’re modeling really good behavior.’”

The results speak for themselves. Her eldest son is set to graduate with a double major this spring, and her youngest is embarking on a business degree.

As to Connor’s next step, nothing’s certain but she does hold doctoral aspirations. She’s always dreamed big, after all. She would like to pursue a discipline that “really gets her jazzed up,” like art history, that she could teach at the college level. Would it require a shift? For sure. But as Connor notes, “I can make shifts. I do that all the time.” 

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