The Eisenhower Institute on North Washington Street. (William Oehler/The Gettysburgian)
By Heather Wirick, Staff Writer
One of Gettysburg College’s self-noted appeals, coming from the Admissions Office, is that “students have an abundance of opportunities to get involved as they follow their passions.”
Tracie Potts, Executive Director of the Eisenhower Institute, has certainly made this possible for students who are interested in public policy, government and more.
Potts, who was hired in 2021, has helped to both expand and diversify the endeavors of the Institute through her extensive background in political journalism and experience with public policy. She grew interested in journalism in her sophomore year of high school. She had just transferred to a new school and was seeking new friends and opportunities. The school offered a closed-circuit TV station, and this was where she found her niche in production and news. Through her time at the station, she grew a passion for informing people with fair, balanced stories. This makes sense, as her parents noted she was always talking to others.
Potts went on to major in journalism at Northwestern University. After graduating, she began her formal journalism career at local stations in Alabama and Tennessee. She then took a position with NBC in Los Angeles, later transferring to one of their locations in D.C.. After an impressive 30-year career, she was considering some sort of transition, but had gotten into a groove with her work. She had mentioned this to a colleague, who later encouraged her to branch out by introducing her to a mutual, who was conducting the search for Gettysburg’s next EI executive director.
(Photo provided by Tracie Potts)
She felt some sense of imposter syndrome — she was concerned that her credentials wouldn’t match the needs of the position and feared that she wouldn’t find the same success that she had in journalism. However, with some external encouragement, she decided to take the risk, a skill that she learned through her transition to an academic environment. Throughout her years as a journalist, she learned a number of vital skills, such as how to connect with people and tell stories, along with how to translate what decisions are being made for the public.
Now, she employs these skills at a college instead of in front of a camera. Potts refers to herself as a “lifelong journalist” — she is always ready to converse with people and serve as an unbiased figure. Through her role with EI, she shares her acumen with students while serving as an additional outlet for them. Potts aims to transfer some of the skills she picked up over her career with a special emphasis on networking. She perfectly aligns with the mission of EI, which aims to connect students with those actively engaged in policy development.
In addition to her emphasis on networking, Potts also uses her skills while developing EI’s annual programming. After considering what global issues students should know about and are interested in, she considers her expansive network of alumni, personal and professional connections, and works her magic to set up both programs and lectures that benefit the entire collegiate community.
Current programs, which are all free to students, include the senior-exclusive “Fielding” and “Undergraduate” fellowships in addition to semester-long experiences such as “Inside Washington,” which brings students to learn about D.C. on-location from EI’s office, located less than 1,400 feet from the White House. The programs often allow students to gain real networking experience.
EI’s website states that applications for spring and summer programs will open in November.
One of Potts’s main goals at EI is teaching students how to network; in other words, how to make themselves seem interesting to others and then allow the universe to decide how their connections will play out. The universe has certainly done Gettysburg College and its students a great favor by adding Tracie Potts to its network.
This article originally appeared on page 17 of the No. 1 October 2024 edition of The Gettysburgian’s magazine.
