When Elizabeth Taylor Corliss graduated with a degree in European history from Colorado College in 1969, she had no plans to work for the federal government. The Vietnam War was in the headlines and a career in the military was not on her radar screen.

And yet she ended up working in the Pentagon; and by the time she retired in 2004, she had achieved a civilian rank equal to that of a two-star general. She was in charge of all the training and education for the United States Air Force and managed a budget of $2.2 billion.

Last April, the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business honored Corliss with a Professional Achievement Award during the school’s annual Partners In Business Human Resources Seminar.

When she was in Ogden in 1989 working as a personnel officer at Hill Air Force Base, Corliss attended the Huntsman School of Business and earned a master’s degree in human resource management.

“I am so fortunate to have come to USU and to have been able to take a year’s sabbatical, if you will, away from the pressures, away from the everyday demands of HR work,” she told the group. “Coming here gave me a chance to be exposed to new ideas and do a lot of reading, but more importantly than anything, it gave me a chance to think.”

She suggested that HR professionals take advantage of seminars and such opportunities that give them a chance to step back from the “tumultuous world of HR management,” get new ideas and just think.