Wanda Grogan still remembers when she first heard about the job that became her career.

“There were five of us riding in the car with Dr. Alene Cross and she told us Dean Pou had an idea of starting a continuing education program for home economics,” she recalls. “The girl sitting next to me said, ‘That’d be perfect for Wanda.’”

Her classmate was correct.

Soon after completing her specialist’s degree, Grogan (MEd ’71, EdS ’73) became the first person in the nation to provide continuing education in the field of home economics. With only a brief two-year-break to complete her doctorate at Iowa State University, she spent the next 20 years providing continuing education and a wide variety of other support to the college. Her long-time support for the College of Family and Consumer Sciences led to her induction in the college’s Honor Hall of Recognition this spring.

“When I started there was me and a third of a secretary,” she says, adding that through the 20-plus years she headed the college’s continuing education program her staff grew at times to more than 20 employees.

Through the years, Grogan led programs in Athens, throughout Georgia, the region and the nation, but she also made sure that fun was a part of her job. Like becoming Hairy Dawg one year at the Sunbelt Expo in Perry.

“I dressed up and really put a show on,” she recalls, laughing at the memory. “The others who were there with the university never did know who was in the suit. I also dressed up as a puppet for the School Food Service conference. I went to Orlando dressed in that costume.”

In addition to her work in continuing education, however, Grogan also served as the college’s first director of alumni relations, helping initiate the alumni association in 1975 and becoming its leader after returning from Iowa State in 1978. She also developed the idea and provided the financial support that led to Leadership FACS, a weekend retreat held annually for the college’s student leaders.

In 1992, Grogan was among the first recipients of the Walter Barnard Hill Award for Distinguished Achievement in Service. The next year, she was named the second Walter Barnard Hill Distinguished Service Fellow.

Grogan’s career was cut short in 1994 after she suffered a severe stroke following surgery for a brain aneurysm.

“After my stroke I couldn’t even turn over,” she says. “I could use my hand, my leg. I couldn’t even wiggle my toes.”

For someone who had always been active, frequently coming in to work at 5 in the morning and staying until 5:30 or 6 in the evening, the stroke was devastating. But Grogan embraced her recovery and just a year after her stroke, with the support of her colleagues, organized a statewide conference for 100 stroke victims and their caregivers.

Although she retired from her position with the university, Grogan is far from retired in her daily life. Instead, she joined the auxiliary program of St. Mary’s Hospital and works with two programs—one for those who have had strokes and another for people with arthritis. She has served on the auxiliary’s board of directors and as chair of its wellness group.

She’s also busy with her church, First Baptist in Athens, serving as a deacon, chairing the church’s missions committee and serving as a Stephen minister, providing support to those facing serious family issues.

Although she acknowledges regret at never finding the right man to settle down with, Grogan spends a great deal of time visiting her extended family. As one of 12 children, she still has three living sisters, ages 92, 90 and 74, as well as a brother who is 82. In addition, Grogan is close to her many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

She also finds time to travel.

“We have a group of eight friends who have gone on several trips together,” she says, including England, Scotland, countries ringing the Baltic Sea and several trips throughout the United States. In fact, this summer the friends plan to headquarter for several days in Germany and make day trips to four surrounding countries.