8 NOVEMBER 1, 2003
Smoke Signals
New Human Resources Manager Shares Experience And Sense of Humor
Judy Zettergren's corporate experience was not just cosmetic.
By Ron Karten
She is a biologist by training, and early on worked
in Wisconsin to develop better skin and hair care
products for S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., the makers of
Johnson Wax, for many years. Her talents went
beyond researching, however, and she moved into
the human resources end of the business because
she began to favor her ability to speak both the lan
guages of the researcher and of management.
"I was always drawn to group projects," said Judy
Zettergren, new Human Resources Manager for the
Tribe, "and thought it would be fun to hire scien
tists. I connected with the clients really well."
Taking the job also meant that her daughter would
not have to work her way through college as she did.
When in the 1980s, her husband, Les, took a job
as a research professor with Reed College in Port
land, Zettergren took a position as a research associ
ate in the dermatology program at Oregon Health
Sciences University. The university roller coaster
sent the Zettergrens back to Wisconsin, but after 20
years, the pull of family held sway. Judy needed to
be near her older siblings in north-central and cen
tral Oregon, and the stage was set for her future at
the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
With researching
skills top among her
abilities, Zettergren
discovered a
Harvard study which described Indians as "very suc
cessful at taking care of their people," she said.
"From my non-Native perspective, I saw this as a
key to success."
But as a non-Native who never before worked for a
Tribe, Zettergren approached the job, which she
started in August, with a humility built on years of
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Judy Zettergren
working with employees. "I need to listen and try to
understand the way that works best," she said.
As part of that effort, Zettergren has embarked on
what she calls a "needs gap analysis." It will in
volve an interview
grid to help her "lis
ten and ask ques
tions" about what
the Human Resources Department should be doing.
She brings a lot of experience to this effort. "Like
any organization, I worry about the talent and lead
ership pipeline, the succession of people who move
up and keep the mission of the Tribe going."
As a result, she said, "I encourage the professional
development of our folks. I want to keep and de
velop a good Tribal pipeline." And in
that regard, she wants to "get them
while they're young in order to help
them move up to leadership and
higher paying jobs."
"A community is important be
cause everybody has a place around
the table," she said. "I want to bring
a lot of fun and continue the sense of
community that's already here in the
Tribal organization."
As an investor in "multi-year
plans," Zettergren is now in the pro
cess of collecting data. "I have a gut
feeling about the Tribes' needs," she
said, "but I'm a scientist. I need
data."
She is not too much of a scientist
to notice her surroundings. For her,
"drop dead gorgeous" refers to the ride
to work.
She also has a way with motivational sayings. On
her blackboard at the time of the interview was one
that said, "The best exercise for strengthening the
heart is reaching down and lifting people up.
Ernest Blevins"
A fisher and a wide-ranging reader on subjects
like fishing and music and mysteries, she adds to
that an inviting approach to the world.
A stuffed version of Catbert, the evil Human Re
sources director from the cartoon, Dilbert, sits on
top of a bookshelf in her office. "I bring him down
when I'm having a bad day," she said.
"Humor is important," she said. "It's the only
way to survive."
Women Take The Walls In Dallas
Spirit Mountain Community Fund grant turns into beautiful art for "one's innate cultural needs."
By Ron Karten
When your heart is in the right place, your gifts
spread far and wide.
This is the case with a recent $30,000 Spirit
Mountain Community Fund grant to Sable House
in Dallas. It is the second such grant in as many
years to this facility providing services to women.
The Fund also gave Sable House another $5,000
at the Spirit Mountain Community Fund's $20
Million celebration in May SS, 6103).
"Our gifts to Sable House are always well
spent," said Angie Blackwell, Director of the Spirit
Mountain Community Fund. "We know the fund
ing provides much needed comfort to women in
Polk County. But there is always a little some
thing extra that comes out of these gifts. The
"Opening Windows" exhibit is a perfect example
of that something extra."
Sable House is the Polk County facility "pro
viding shelter and case management services to
women," according to its director, Deborah Th
ompson. With a $350,000 annual budget, Sable
House served 920 clients, 162 in shelters, and
answered 1,700 crisis hotline calls in 2002, said
Thompson.
Of all the services that Sable House provides,
none have had as public a face as the art show
in October at the Pearl Gallery in Dallas. (Actu
ally, there are now two Pearl Galleries in Dallas
(at 184 SE Oak and 113 Court Street), both made
available for Sable House programs by another
generous soul and Sable House supporter, Penny
Cox of Dallas, owner of both buildings.
Called "Opening Windows: An Introspective
Journey of Women," the 46-piece show was "de
signed to trigger emotions," according to Cox,
whose name tag at the opening subtitled her,
"The Queen."
Cox has a long record of supporting women's
issues in the area, a flair for the beautiful and
the real estate to house her dreams. For this and
future shows, the new Pearl Gallery has been
refurbished in the finest Vic
torian tradition and lent for
Sable House uses on a more
or less permanent basis.
More than a year ago, Cox
and Thompson brainstormed
the idea of using art as
therapy for Sable House cli
ents. The original idea focused
on "art and theater therapy,
to see if it helps with women
victims of domestic violence,"
said Cox. The Pearl Gallery
emerged as the pilot program
promoting that idea. Modeled
after Marylhurst University
art therapy programs, the
Pearl program includes free
art classes which also are open
to the community at large.
Currently, Dallas artist
Jenica Van Dyke teaches four
classes: Visual Journaling,
Three-dimensional Expres
sive Collage, Self-Exploration
Through Collage and Land
scape Painting. Her piece in the show, Stone
Silence, is a pastel of a face carved out of stone
with a tear dropping from one eye. Her descrip
tion of it said in part, "I could feel nothing and I
could feel everything... To heal I had to allow the
silence to be broken, the tears to flow, the pain
to show."
She said that she asks students to use single
words to describe their feelings at the beginning
and end of class. The words change from
'stressed,' for example, she said, to 'rejuvenated.'
"We do believe we are helping."
Other art included Bobbi Jo Epperson's Self
Portrait as a Man and Kim Smith's untitled piece,
which was a corset made out of cold cuts pre-
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- 111
Native Talent Siletz and Chasta artist Lisa Brown (right) describes her
work during the opening of the art exhibit, "Opening Windows," benefitting Sable
House in Dallas. Jenica Van Dyke, artist and Sable House art teacher at left,
looks on.
served (with shellac!), sewed together and
mounted on a mannequin. A vegetarian, Smith
said, "I loved the way I hated this."
Siletz and Chasta artist and artists' represen
tative Lisa Brown had two pieces included in
the show: Transcendent Tigress An Expres
sion of Triumph, and Magic-Love-Protection,
both needle appliques.
She was seeking, she reported in the program
notes referring to Tigress, "to retain that which
is wild and natural in one's being, and to be ca
pable of extending beyond the limits of ordinary
experience, and transcend a material existence
in order to sustain one's innate cultural needs."