The thirst to see what's out there
Sandy Gerard’s mom opened the car door and sat down behind the wheel. When she glanced toward the passenger seat, there was 3-year-old Sandy.
“I just want to go,” the little girl said. It didn’t matter where — she was ready to hit the road. “I think as a kid, I just wanted to see what’s out there,” Gerard says.
Still traveling
That feeling has never left her. When she was younger, her ambition was to be a stewardess or a travel agent. Today, she travels whenever she gets the chance.
Gerard, who works as a program coordinator at IIHR, says her best trip so far was a two-week adventure in Peru with her daughters, Amanda and Amber. They went to places most tourists don’t go, like the salt mines. She loves getting off the beaten path and learning something new.
“It was like a live classroom,” Gerard says. “We went to Machu Picchu, we made chocolate, we went into the rainforest for three days. It was incredible.”
That trip was something special, Gerard says. “It was spiritual. Honestly, I felt different inside after being there.” She is looking forward to a trip to Greece in 2024.
Iowa beginnings
As the seventh of nine kids growing up on a farm near West Branch, Gerard says there was always something happening. They packed into a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house until her parents built a larger one on what used to be the family baseball field.
“We were never bored! And it was back in the day, so we were free to roam until it was dinner time,” Gerard
says.
When she was a senior in high school, Gerard went to Arizona with a friend — her first trip out of state. While there, she saw an ad on TV for a local college and decided that’s where she wanted to go.
“I moved there three months later,” Gerard says. She drove her old brown Ford Granada all the way from Iowa to Arizona. “I did it on my own with the support of my family back in Iowa,” Gerard says. “I think that was the most life-changing thing I’ve ever done.” And it gave her the confidence to know that she could do more than she had ever imagined.
“It was fun. Even when I go back now, it just makes me smile. I get this sense of freedom,” Gerard says.
Making a difference
After college, she came back to Iowa and took a job at the state Department of Human Services. In 1991, she started working for a plastic surgeon at the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. She’s been at the university ever since.
Gerard joined IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering and the College of Engineering in 2010 as an accountant. Her job duties at IIHR have changed completely more than once, which Gerard says she loves. Learning something new keeps her engaged and entertained. She loves a new challenge.
When IIHR was looking for someone to take on human resources duties, Gerard stepped up, although it was all new to her.
“I was able to kind of grow into that, which I really enjoyed,” she says. Gerard took the necessary training to earn her Professional in Human Resources certification. “I studied and studied,” Gerard says. “I’m pretty proud of that.”
Gerard is known for going the extra mile to make sure people are taken care of, no matter what the circumstances. “When I can answer a question, I will. And helping people — I just really like to.”
A special place
Gerard is proud to be a part of IIHR and the College of Engineering. She says, “I am amazed at the research, and I respect the faculty, staff, and students all around me.”
She adds, “I’m most proud to say that I contribute to something so meaningful and that I feel like I’m making a difference in people’s lives.”