Alumni Profile : Jeanette Johnson Bradley
Jeanette Johson Bradley ('79 Agronomy)
Remote Sensing Leader, United States Department of Agriculture, Burleson, Texas
“My angel came in the form of Dr. Wayne Scholtes, soils professor in the Agronomy Department. He was my mentor. He told me that there were few blacks or women in the field of soil science, but he said, “If this is something you want to do, I will make sure you are the best soil scientist there is.”
"When I came to ISU in 1975, the university overwhelmed me. I –- a sharecropper’s daughter, an African-American girl from a small town in Mississippi, the first in my family and community to attend college -- was a student on a college campus. WOW!!!
As I stood on the top floor of Bessey Hall looking out the window, I suddenly realized the magnitude of it all. I knew that within me were the hopes and dreams of not only myself but my people that I carried inside me. I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to, so I knelt and prayed to God. I prayed that the weight of it all would not buckle my knees and force me to fall. I prayed that he would send me an angel to carry me when I could not walk on my own, and that is what he did.
My angel came in the form of Dr. Wayne Scholtes, soils professor in the Agronomy Department. He was my mentor. He told me that there were few blacks or women in the field of soil science, but he said, “If this is something you want to do, I will make sure you are the best soil scientist there is.”
After graduation, I tried many times to repay him, and he always told me to repay him by helping others. I am doing that now – and have been since I left ISU – with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, mentoring, and many other things.
I know my story is bigger than I am because it is not about me; it is much bigger than that. It is about passing the baton to inspire young people so they can achieve more than others expect of them as was done for me.
Dr. Scholtes passed several years ago, but I carry his memories and training within me. I know where I came from, and without my mentor I would not be where I am."
Jeannette Bradley is a remote sensing leader with the USDA in Burleson, Texas. Wayne Scholtes ('39 forestry, '51 PhD soil genetics), a professor of agronomy at ISU from 1951 to 1983, died in 1998 at the age of 81. At the time of his retirement, he was a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture, and he was twice voted Professor of the Year by students in the College of Agriculture.