Becky Elliott
UUFR Activities:
Living the Pledge to End Racism: participant, facilitator; Lay Ministry Team; Worship Associate; Auction: team member, chose new software system, Chair for two auctions; Board Task Force to Address Bylaws Changes; 75th Anniversary Quilt Project: made 3 of the quilts; Participated in Wednesday Night Dinner, New Year’s at the Beach, Circle Suppers, Spirit Fest; Also, helped staff UUFR booth at Gay Pride Festival and participated in UU Get Out the Vote postcard project.
Professional Strengths and Skills:
Project Coordination and Organizational Skills: I have organized and coordinated many auction events and many lay led church services at 4 different UU churches. I organized and coordinated starting a new UU church in Indianapolis, having it recognized by the UUA. In my professional life as a university teacher, I created statistics courses for undergraduate students. In my volunteer life, I have organized and coordinated annual conferences and annual NOW Women of Courageous Action dinner events. I consider organization and coordination to be top skills.
Communications: As a statistician working in industry, I created many presentations, wrote many reports (including to the FDA), and advised teams on research approaches. I taught many statistics classes at the University of Utah, winning Mathematics Teacher of the Year once. I wrote a book, Learning SAS in the Computer Lab, three editions, working with a co-writer for the 3rd edition. I’ve led many worship services at 4 different UU churches, some lay-led, some delivering sermons I’ve written. I’ve taught or helped teach adult RE classes at 4 different UU churches, some pre-prepared and some I created.
Collaboration: My entire professional life depended on collaborating with others to reach a goal. As a statistician, my job was often to help others define their goals in a way that they could be reached successfully. I designed many mail and telephone surveys, which is a collaborative and iterative process. I collaborated with another professor who wanted to update the book I wrote: we did this by meeting over the phone (pre-Zoom days!) as we lived far from each other. Collaboration was involved in all the classes I created and led, in all the worship services I created and led, and in all the committees I’ve been on in my professional life and my volunteer life, including creating quilts for the 75th Anniversary Quilt Project.
Logistics: I’ve had to account for space needs and set up for classes, workshops, conferences, and meetings that I’ve led or participated in. When developing classes in my professional life, I had to consider time constraints. As the meeting leader for many activities, I’ve developed timed agendas. I know how to consider time, space, and people when planning meetings and events.
Negotiations: My experience with negotiations is the interpersonal discussions that happen on committees and teams to get things done. I was on a Ministerial Contract Negotiating Committee at South Valley UU Society.
Money Management: While serving as Board President at 2 UU churches, I had to understand and approve budgets. As a statistical consultant, I had to create financial reports.
Biography
I grew up in the country outside a small town in NW Indiana. I graduated salutatorian, got married, moved to Seoul, Korea, where we lived for a year. Back in IN, I had a son, and after 3 years we divorced. I got a master’s degree in Applied Statistics in 1982 from Purdue University, and took a job with General Motors in MI. In 1988 I moved with my second husband to Salt Lake City, UT, where I was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Utah. I also started a private consulting business and worked for a survey research firm there. I was very active in the National Organization for Women (NOW) while in Utah. In 1999 I divorced and moved to Indianapolis to work for Eli Lilly and Company, where my co-workers were located around the world (France, Italy, and China). For 6 months in 2011, I lived in France while on a special work assignment. Emilio and I met in 2014 and married in 2015. I retired at the end of 2015. We lived for a year in Portugal in 2017. We moved here to the Triangle in 2018 after the death of my granddaughter to be near my son. I was raised United Methodist, gave up organized religion in my early 20’s, and became a UU in Salt Lake City in 1989.
UU Experience:
South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, Salt Lake City, UT: Board Member, Co-President, President; Board Liaison to Finance Committee; Adult RE Chair and Teacher; Newsletter Editor; Pledge Drive Committee member; Interim Minister Search Committee Chair; Ministerial Contract Negotiating Committee member; Bylaws Task Force member; Pledge Drive Committee Chair; Racial Justice Committee Chair; Special Music Coordinator.
UUA Mountain Desert District Leadership School: Attendee; Committee member; School Faculty; School Committee Chair.
Trainer for UUA Jubilee World Workshops (anti-racism training going to WA, CA, CO, and GA to help deliver training).
Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis: Committee on Ministry Chair; Worship Committee member and Co-Chair; Auction Committee member; Adult RE Committee Co-Chair, organizer of a Jeremy Taylor Dream Group Workshop; organizer and leader of a dream group.
Heartland UU Congregation, Indianapolis: Founder; Board President; Worship Committee Chair; Book Club member; Women’s dinner group (Joy HUUC Club); did the work to be recognized as a UU congregation.
Attended UUA General Assembly in Spokane, Salt Lake City (also volunteered), and Louisville.
Other volunteer activities: Purdue University NOW member and organizer of a march for the ERA on campus, Ann Arbor NOW president, Salt Lake City NOW president, Utah NOW State Coordinator (this included television and radio interviews and speaking at rallies), Utah NOW PAC Coordinator; Utah Girl Scout Council Board Member; Greenmoor Home Owners Association Board member (Apex); Westville Methodist Church choir director, piano accompanist for services, and Summer Bible School teacher.
Hobbies and interests: I create art quilts, play the piano, and read books. I enjoy cooking for guests. I play word games, card games, and love puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. I’m told I’m very competitive.
